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From Ferdinand von Mueller to William Thiselton-Dyer   28 Nov 1890

28/11/90

Herewith, dear Mr Dyer, I beg to send you the best of two specimens, which I have, of what I have regarded as a form of Cystopteris fragilis from the Australian Alps. The indusium is very reduced in size and even not rarely deficient. As you are familiar with the typic plant from Britain, perhaps you will kindly give me your opinion on this Fern, and perhaps Mr Baker1 might wish to have specially to have2 a look on it also. Quite recently Dr Prentice of Brisbane has referred this fern as a new species of Woodsia, (Perrinia section) to which he has given the name W. laetevirens.3 I am amidst urgent extra-work for Sir Th. Elder's Central Austr. Expd. and also preliminaries for Baron Nordenskiolds antarctic voyage, and I have also to get ready for the N.Z. meeting of the Austral Assoc.4 So I cannot carefully go through the mass of allied ferns here now for critical examination of this fern; and it will also be altogether preferable, that a final opinion thereon shuld be given in Kew.

Regardfully your

Ferd. von Mueller.

Cystopteris fragilis

Woodsia laetevirens

1

i.e. John G. Baker.

2

to have repeated.

3

C. Prentice, in Bailey (1891), pp. 37-8.

4

3rd congress of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, Christchurch, January 1891.

5

Date stamped Royal Gardens Kew 5. Jan. 91. Annotated: 'ackd. 6:1:90'. [Error for 1891?] Letter not found.

Please cite as “FVM-90-11-28a,” 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 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/90-11-28a