To Léon Dejardin1    6 November 1889

Melbourne

6/11/89

 

It gives me much pleasure, dear Consul De Jardin, to send you an ample supply of well-matured seeds of Atriplex spongiocarpum,2 one of the best Saltbushes of Central Australia. The seeds are quite freshly collected, and are sure to germinate. I am all the more glad, to offer these, as seeds of this particular species have never yet been sent in some quantity for actual rural purposes to Europe. In all practicability this Saltbush will become of importance for sheep-pastures with somewhat saline subsoil in S. W. France and Algeria.

Where this Atriplex grows, some of the best Merino-Wool is obtained.

With regardful remembrance your

Ferd. von Mueller

 

The sad news of the death of my celebrated friend, Dr. Cosson, reached me by the last mail.3 It is a great loss to French Science. He was the author of a splendid Flora of Paris,4 and also one of the principle investigators of the vegetation of Algeria.5 So one after the other of my oldest friends pass away, and perhaps I am the next!

 

Atriplex spongiocarpum

 
1
MS annotation by [Dejardin]: 'le 17 Nov j'écris à Paris Je remercierai verbalment'. [I wrote to Paris, 17 November. Will thank verbally.]
2
spongiosum?
3
M's informant was premature, Ernest Cosson did not die until 31 December 1889. See Barnhart and Annals of botany (1889-90) vol. 3, 'Botanical necrology for 1889', p. 456.
4
Cosson produced several works on the flora of Paris and its environs. M's library included: E. Cosson & J. Germain de Saint-Pierre (1861) Flore des environs de Paris (...), 2nd edition, Paris.
5
Of Cosson's publications on the flora of Algeria, M's library included: E. Cosson & M. C. Durieu de Maisonneuve (1854-67) Exploration scientifique de l'Algerie: science naturelles, botanique, [II]: Phanerogamie, groupe de glumacées, Paris, and E. Cosson (1881-7) Compendium florae Atlanticae seu expositio methodica plantarum omnium in Algeria (...), 2 vols, Paris.

Please cite as “FVM-89-11-06,” in Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, edited by R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora†, J.H. Voigt† and Monika Wells accessed on 24 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/89-11-06