To William Thiselton-Dyer   20 December 1892

20/12/921

 

Some time ago, dear Dr Dyer, you asked me, that I should send some fresh seeds of the strong scented Boronia, and it was done.2 As I just received a little again, this season, I forward a new though only small supply. This plant is very capricious as regards the germinating of its seeds. In some cases of gathering every grain will sprout, in other instances not one seed will come to anything, though the embryo will be fully developed.

The greatest portion of the plants, collected during the Elder-Expedition3 is now examined, and I hope to complete the revision of much of the rest during the quietude of the forthcoming holidays. But Prof Tate just writes me, that one more parcel as the last result of Mr Helms's collecting in 1891 was detained somewhere in the interior of W.A, and had only now arrived in Adelaide. When the whole examination is completed, Prof Tate on behalf of Sir Th Elder will send a set of the specimens to you.4 Very little of novelty is among these plants, as the desert flora had been approached from so many sides before. Nevertheless the critical examination of the specimens has taken up much time, when species of large genera had to be delt5 with.6

Let me offer my best felicitation at the near festive time. May the new annual space of time, on which we are soon to enter also prove replete with joy (in 1892 I having contributed to it by my action and influence at Halle)7 for you and those dear to you!

Ferd. von Mueller.

 

Am glad that Mr Bryan Hooker got an engagement in N.Z., where through his illustrious father he has so high a claim for Gov. support.8

 

Boronia

 
1
MS annotation by J. Baker: JGB 23/1/93.
2
See M to W. Thiselton-Dyer, 7 September 1883.
3
Elder Scientific Exploration Expedition, 1891-2.
4
There is a blue pencl line in the margin against this sentence.
5
dealt?
6
B96.14.02; the report was delayed until funds were given by the philanthropist Robert Barr-Smith to the Royal Society of SA for the publication of the final reports from the expedition.
7
Parentheses added: the parenthetical text is writen in the central margin with intended position indicated by an asterisk. Thiselton-Dyer was awarded an honorary PhD by the ‘Leopoldinisch Karolinisch German Academy of Natural History’ (i.e. the Academia Caesarea Leopoldino-Carolina Naturae Curiosorum, or ‘Leopoldina’, based at Halle) ‘in recognition of the great services rendered by him to botany’ (Morning post, 30 September 1891, p. 5). See M to W. Thiselton-Dyer, 10 July 1891 (in this edition as 91-07-10a).
8
Brian Hooker, mineralogist and mining engineer, was engaged on behalf of a private syndicate to examine tin ore on Stewart Island (Wanganui chronicle, 14 December 1892, p. 2).

Please cite as “FVM-92-12-20,” 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 23 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/92-12-20