To William Thiselton-Dyer1    6 April 1890

Easter /18902

 

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,3 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;4 so Mr Bailey's plant may really be different from it.5

Regardfully

your

Ferd. von Mueller.

 

Bailey sent no ripe fruit, nor ♂ fl.

Could Ipomoea urceolata6 be reexamined with a view of settling, whether it is a Lepistemon, as I believe, but as Schumann doubts.7

 

Blyxa

Ipomoea urceolata

Lepistemon

Vallisneria gracilis

Vallisneria nana

Vallisneria spiralis

 
MS black edged — M's brother-in-law George Doughty died on 26 March 1890.
Date stamped Royal Gardens Kew 19. May. 90. In 1890, Easter fell on 6 April.
J. Hooker (1890), 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 ofurceolata: not in [706].

Schumann & Hollrung (1889), p. 116.

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 28 March 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/90-04-06a