THE UNIVERSITY
ADELAIDE
July 1. 1891
My dear Baron
Out of a collection of 29 species gathered by Dr Stirling1 between lat 17° & 24° on the Trans-continental Telegraph Line are a few which offer difficulties for me in the way of their determinations, chiefly because of the paucity of specimens & immature condition of the floral organs.
| no 5. | Kochia n. sp. The horizontal wings in the form of stiff oblong rays. |
| no 7. | may be Urticaceous. |
| no 13. | Thryptomene aff mucronulata. A not very satisfactory dissection of one flower seemed to reveal 1-celled ovary with the ovules laterally attached in 2 clusters of 6 to 8. The two large semidecurrent and unilaterally-disposed bracteoles are prominent characteristics. |
| no 15. | Melaleuca n. sp. The stamens are in 5 bundles of about 10, but are very shortly united. The colour of the stamens & the foliage separate it from the other Callistemonoid species. The venulation of the leaf approximates to that of M. leucadendron. |
| no 25. | Order Indeterminate |
| no 27. | Cyperid. Genus? There seem to be 2 hermaphrodite flowers in each spikelet & flat membranous hypogynous scales to each flower. |
I have been solicited to present a few notes on the collection to the next meeting of the Royal Society (6th inst.); and as the collection has been in my hands only a few days I have found that in the press of other work and in view of the imperfection of the material representing genera & species unfamiliar to me; I hereby ask your cooperation in respect of the unidentified material.2
Yrs very truly
Ralph Tate
P.S. The specimens as3 sent herewith as a postal-parcel.
Kochia
Melaleuca leucadendron
Thryptomene mucronulata
Edward Charles Stirling.
See M to R. Tate, 5 July 1891. The meeting of the Royal Society of South Australia was held on 7 July, not 6 July, when 'Professor Tate ably described some native plants … collected by Dr Stirling' (South Australian register, 8 July 1891, p. 5). The notes were published in the volume for the following year (Tate (1892)).
are intended?
MS found with a specimen of Maireana Scleroptera (MEL 42020).
Please cite as “FVM-91-07-01b,” 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