To Henry Ridley   28 August 1890

28/8/90

 

Am delighted, dear Mr Ridley, that you will spare some of your bot. treasures for my institution here. I shall have to work for many months hereafter on specimens from New Guinea, and then will successively lay spare-samples aside for you.

As you will be aware, Continental Australia even in its humid tropic regions is remarkably poor in epiphytal Orchideae; but you shall have specimens as far as I can part with them. It may however be some time, before I can attend to this. As President (for 1890) of the Australian Assoc. for Advancement of Science I shall soon have to go to the New Zealand meeting, to instal Sir James Hector.1

Mr Fitzgerald2 stands alone among Botanists in never communicating bot. specimens to anyone! We all are to depend solely for all times on his figures; exquisite doubtless they are. Thus I have not been able from examination of any specimens to ascertain, what his supposed apostasioid Orchid is. From the illustrative plate, given by him, I regard it a Prasophyllum of monstrous growth. 3 I asked for a specimen of this at least, but none is forthcoming.4 You will be aware from my Second Census (1889), that I distinguish Apostasiaceae as an order. They have no real affinity to Cypripedilon or other Orchideae5

 

Apostasiaceae

Cypripedilon

Orchideae

Prasophyllum

1
Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 3rd congress, Christchurch, January 1891.
2
i.e. Robert Fitzgerald.
3
M is referring to Corunastylis apostasioides, depicted in Fitzgerald (1875–1894), vol. 2, part 3. plate 1; see R. Fitzgerald to M, 6 February 1890.
4
Letter not found.
5
M recognised the order in B89.13.12, p. 192.

Please cite as “FVM-90-08-28a,” 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 25 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/90-08-28a