From Ferdinand von Mueller to Maurice Holtze   [Feb 1892]

Ich bin Ihnen besonders dankbar, dass Sie mir von Eulophia Holtzei Blumen in Alcohol sandten; so habe ich denn die Pollenmassen genau untersuchen können, u finde, dass die Pfl. in das Genus Pachystoma (Sect. Apaturia) versetzt werden muss. Das Genus ist für Australien neu.

N. 1276 ist eine neue Art von Calochilus, welche ich sogleich als C. Holtzei beschrieben habe. Dies Genus war aus dem tropischen Australien noch nicht bekannt.

[I am particularly grateful that you sent me flowers of Eulophia holtzei in alcohol; I have therefore been able to examine the pollen masses closely and find that the plant must be transferred to the genus Pachystoma (Section Apaturia). The genus is new for Australia.1

Nr 12762 is a new species of Calochilus that I have described at once as C. holtzei. This genus was not known previously from tropical Australia.]3

1276

Calochilus Holtzei F v M Die erste tropische Art des Genus

[The first tropical species of this genus]

1193, Blumea
1246, Acanthaceae
1247,4 Ruellia
1248,5 Goodenia
1249, Rutaceae, Aurantiaceae.
1250,

Strychnos lucida, R Brown

Ich halte diese Pflanze nur für eine Varietät von S. nux vomica Samen sehr giftig

[I consider this plant as only a variety of S. nux vomica Seeds very poisonous]

1252, Ixora
1256, Eucalyptus clavigera, Cunningham
1220, Acacia aneura, F v M
1222, Acacia plectocarpa, Cunn.
1221.

Vielleicht Varietät der A. plectocarpa.6

[Perhaps a variety of A. plectocarpa.]

1223, Acacia hemignosta, F.v.M
1224,

Acacia holcocarpa, Cunn.

Keine dieser Acacien ist bisher in die Gartencultur gebracht also sind Samen sehr erwünscht.

[None of these Acacias has been introduced into horticulture so far, seeds are therefore very desirable.]

Acacia aneura

Acacia hemignosta

Acacia holcocarpa

Acacia plectocarpa

Acacia plectocarpa

Acanthaceae

Aurantiaceae

Blumea

Calochilus Holtzei

Eucalyptus clavigera

Ixora

Ruellia

Rutaceae

Strychnos lucida

Strychnos nux vomica

Calochilus holtzei

Eulophia holtzei

Pachystoma

M described Eulopia holtzei in B89.07.03, p. 55, but in B92.03.02, under the entry for Calochilus holtzei, he recognised that this genus was not tenable and related it to Pachystoma pubescens.

This collecting number at MEL is dated 1891, but there is no contemporary date on the labels of the sheet (MEL 615533). However, K 827519 has the date 1891 in M's hand on his herbarium label.

The list that follows is on a separate sheet and may have been sent separately. No. 1249 is not in MEL; 1246 and 1250 are undated. There are some anomalies noted below but all dated specimens in this list are given as from 1891 without further details of date collected.

No. 1247 appears twice in MEL, both attributed to M. Holtze; there is a generic synonym of Ruellia (MEL 0101283, Brunoniella australis), 1891, with no collecting locality, and Goodenia leiosperma (MEL 0023820), no date, from McMinns Lagoon (north of Humpty Doo, NT).

The only specimen with this number, the undated MEL 0012412 (Solanum echinatum), is from a different family and was collected at Powell Creek, NT, suggesting that it was a specimen contributed by Waldemar Holtze.

M's label on a specimen numbered 1221 by Holtze, MEL 2077658, reads: 'A. plectocarpa Cunn var verging to A. pachycarpa'.

Two undated fragments, linked by the naming of Calochilus Holtzei in both and dated to February 1882 as the latest likely date that the first could have been written. The dating is based on the internal evidence concerning immediate publication of Calochilus holtzei, recorded as collected by M. Holtze near Port Darwin, in B92.03.02, p. 180, issued on 4 March 1892, and the exhibition of specimens of it 'from North Australia' by M at the meeting of the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria on 8 February 1892. If this attribution and dating are correct, however, there would appear to have been some delay in the relevant specimens reaching M, because Holtze moved from Darwin to Adelaide in June 1891 to take up his new appointment as Director of the Adelaide Botanic Garden (his arrival being noted in Evening journal (Adelaide), 27 June 1891, p. 6), and must have collected the specimens before that.

Translations are included within the text in square brackets.

Please cite as “FVM-92-02-00j,” 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/92-02-00j