To Henry Deane   15 October 1893

15/10/93.

 

In setting to work, dear Mr Deane, for adding notes to yours for the new part of Fitzgerald's Orchids1 I find, that you likely not have my "Census of Australian plants"[.]2 I will send you the second edition,3 because it will refer you to notes in the "fragm. phytogr. Austral", a copy of which is likely accessible to you. A second point for consideration is presenting itself, if you quote verbatim from Bailey's synopsis, which Mr Fitzgerald never has done, in such cases, where a description was given in the Flora or in the fragmenta, then these two works would become superseded, which would not be just to Bentham nor to myself. You have such excellent knowledge of the science of plants, that you could easily give a description of your own At all events the Flora and the Fragmenta ought to be quoted and not solely the synopsis, unless the species were first described in the synopsis. As this is the commencement of your Editor ship which — I trust — will continue through many years, I take the liberty of pointing out to you my views on this subject, and I have a sort of moral obligation also for watching Bentham's interest. It would undoubtedly be well, even if some slight delay occurred to do justice to Bentham. Of course, it would be necessary to adduce discarded synonyms in your work. Of Adelopetalum bracteatum I have never seen a specimen. Indeed our departed friend never communicated to me any dried Orchids of any kind

Will you kindly try to see, when on the Tweed,4 or ask your officers to do so, whether only Nymphaea gigantea (with serrated leaves) occurs there; or whether N. coerulea (N. stellata) can also be found (with entire leaves). Some other characteristics distinguish these two, which often grow intermixed, though Bentham saw not the distinctions notwithstanding my previous identification of the two.5 I believe N. coerulea could be shown also to occur in NSW and so in lagoons Aldrovanda vesiculosa, of which I gave a figure in the transact LS. of N.SW.6

With regardful remembrance your

Ferd von Mueller

 

Adelopetalum bracteatum

Aldrovanda vesiculosa

Nymphaea coerulea

Nymphaea gigantea

Nymphaea stellata

 
1
Following Fitzgerald's death in August 1892, Deane was commissioned to complete Part 5 of vol. 2 of his Australian orchids, 'using such notes as had been left by Mr Fitzgerald, and supplementing these from his own valuable experience and observations'. Deane evidently sought M's advice on what he had done, and his comments are reflected in some of the published notes. The new material was published in 1894.
2
editorial addtion.
3
B89.13.12.
4
i.e. Tweed River, NSW.
5
Bentham (1863-78), vol. 1, p. 61.
6
Transactions of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, new series, vol. 2, 1887, p. 621, records a drawing of Aldrovanda vesiculosa being exhibited on M's behalf at a meeting of the Society on 28 September 1887. However, the drawing does not seem to have been published.

Please cite as “FVM-93-10-15,” 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 11 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/93-10-15