Burwood1
Nov 24/89
My dear Baron,
On my way from Church to-day, I saw some Chenopodium triangulare growing by the road side, but the flowers are not yet formed. This plant is common everywhere between Sydney & the Mountains, but Rhagodia hastata belongs properly to the Myall country beyond the Range. Brown has it marked as from Port Jackson,2 but I fancy that he must have had his specimens from the Hunter where it may grow sparingly. It is not found anywhere near Sydney now, & I never saw it growing until I visited the Castleragh3 some years ago. There it is "the Salt Bush".
These two plants, though they resemble each other in dried specimens, are perfectly distinct in size, texture & habit. C. triangulare is a small herbaceous plant with thinnish leaves, but R. hastata grows to the height of several feet, more shrubby, & with thicker leaves (generally opposite.)
Some years ago, a friend of mine had a plant of it in his garden in Parramatta. It was a fine spreading shrub. During the week I will visit Parramatta, & if it is still in existence, I will send you some specimens, & get more of the other as the season advances.
Yours very sincerely
W. Woolls
P.S. I see Maiden does not give R. hastata in his book!4 He is wrong in saying p. 137 that R. Billardiere5 & R. parabolica are the best known. R. hastata is the Salt Bush of squatters
Chenopodium triangulare
Rhagodia Billardiere
Rhagodia hastata
Rhagodia parabolica
Please cite as “FVM-89-11-24,” 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