Easter /18901
Would it be possible, dear Mr Dyer, to spare me a few fragments of R. Br's Vallisneria nana? Mr Bailey sent me, what he describes as V gracilis, and that, so far as his material shows, accords exactly with the diagnosis given by R. Br. of V. nana, both being from tropical Australia. Since Sir Jos. Hooker set out several Blyxas,2 it may be desirable, to investigate the specific limits within Valisneria also. Bentham however seems to have entertained no doubts, that V. nana was merely a form of V. spiralis;3 so Mr Bailey's plant may really be different from it.4
Regardfully
your
Ferd. von Mueller.
Bailey sent no ripe fruit, nor ♂ fl.
Could Ipomoea urceolata5 be reexamined with a view of settling, whether it is a Lepistemon, as I believe, but as Schumann doubts.6
Blyxa
Ipomoea urceolata
Lepistemon
Vallisneria gracilis
Vallisneria nana
Vallisneria spiralis
Date stamped Royal Gardens Kew 19. May. 90. In 1890, Easter fell on 6 April.
J. Hooker (1875-97), vol. 5, pp. 660-1.
Bentham (1863-78), vol. 6, p. 259.
See also M to W. Thiselton-Dyer, 27 March 1890.
MS annotation interlined in pencil above the end of urceolata: not in [706].
Schumann & Hollrung (1889), p. 116.
MS black-edged; M's brother-in-law George Doughty died on 26 March 1890.
Annotated by Thiselton-Dyer below M's text: And 13.7.90 (letter not found) and:
We have no specimen authenticated by R. Br as V. nana
flower of Ipomoea from Banks & Solander (Brit. Mus) sent
Please cite as “FVM-90-04-06a,” 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