22/10/94.
Long before this, dear Miss Henley, I ought to have thanked you for the sending, so thoughtfully and generously made, of the splendid Lemons deserving infinite praise for your father's cultures and flowers. I was also delighted with the Mesembrianthemum edule, the fruit of which is quite fit for the table when well ripened. You can multiply the plant easily from cuttings. Some of it would be valuable on any pasture, but particularly so in sandy-saline desert regions, where water is scarce. Mr Lindsay, the Explorer,1 paid me a visit this afternoon. His dromedaries could never have made the many days march without any water, had they not found patches of a similar Mesembrianthemum, the M. aequilaterale.
Let me advise you to give your neighbours cuttings of the M. edule, as from time to time you may have enough of it for cutting back. If seeds ripen, will you kindly let me have some of them?
With regardful greeting to all of you
Ferd. von Mueller
Mesembrianthemum aequilaterale
Mesembrianthemum edule
Please cite as “FVM-94-10-22,” 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 25 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/94-10-22