COFFEE PALACE
GRAND CENTRAL
151 CLARENCE ST.
SYDNEY
Dec 11 — 1889
Dear Sir —
Having noted in your edition of Bentham's Australian Flora1 that Hibbertia volubilis was to be found at North Shore,2 & on Port Jackson, I yesterday visited the former, but made a fruitless journey. I presume building has very greatly caused the Scrub to recede since then. I went to the government botanist's & found his secretary at home. The specimen collector at once informed me that Specimens were abundant at Manly3 & all along the coast, on sandy places, more especially where the Sandstone is being disintegrated.
There I found the identical plant, judging from odour & other points.4
Note please:
| Manly specimen | Coraki5 Specimen |
| Ovules 3 or 4 labal, central in attachment. | Ovules ∞6 |
| Seeds — three in each of the five achenes — of somewhat lunar shape. Style persistent | (?) |
| Stems may lie like Coraki ones, & show decided tendency to creep — or in poor soil may be little shrub with stem ½ inch in diameter | Stems — with prickles all thin & creeping |
| Calyx, & seed cover gradually decay. | (?) |
| Bract — one | Bract (?). |
I send you a specimen of Manly plant in different parts. I also forward along with it some Chrissine & Chrissic Acid made from the Coraki plant. The quantity is very small for obvious reasons. I spent about 6 hours in obtaining plant enough in Coraki to make about 2 [p], & unfortunately in attending to other matters destroyed some of it. You will of course consider them more as curiosities than anything else. Please note that the tube containing chrissine is marked C, the other Cc. which will enable you to distinguish them without the aid of litmus paper. There is a colouring matter — but I trust I shall have leizure to investigate the matter carefully. Chrissine occurs also as colorless crystals.
Perhaps my description is not accurate as regards the Coraki plant. The odour is so suggestive of identity that I have little doubt in the matter. Habitat is different, here on sea side — really not facing Pt Jackson but the ocean, & close to it. Flowers seem abundant.
I shall again call on you to let me have a full description of the plant prior to publishing — or a reference for the purpose. You will of course have all due acknowledgment.
Kindly excuse this — as the pen is bad.
With best wishes
Yours faithfully
John Reid
Baron Sir F. Von Müller K.C.M.G &c.
Arnold Street
South Yarra
Hibbertia volubilis
Bentham (1863-78), vol. 1, p. 37.
Sydney.
Sydney Harbour.
Some years later, after he moved to London, Reid published a paper on Hibbertia volubilis (Reid (1903)). In this he acknowledged 'my old and esteemed friend the later Baron Sir. F. von Mueller, who kindly assisted me in the bibliography, and told me that, as the order had been little investigated, my work would serve to indicate the general properties of its members'.
Northern coast of NSW.
i.e. a large indefinite number.
MS found with a specimen of Hibbertia volubilis (MEL 1009850). MS annotation by M: 'Answ 14/12/89'. Letter not found. See also J. Reid to M, 12 December 1889 (in this edition as 89-12-12a).
Please cite as “FVM-89-12-11,” 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