To William Thiselton-Dyer   24 November 1894

24/11/94.1

 

Have managed dear Dr Dyer to send you some few seeds of the genuine Euc. macrocarpa of Hooker. I am sure, that the right sort was sent more than once before, but seedlings may at Kew when young have “damped off” or otherwise not have succeeded. We know not sufficient of the chemical constituents of the soil, on which naturally various Eucalypts grow; so the cultivated plants may perish for want of the proper nourishment, not to speak of proper degree of humidity and temperature.

Euc. miniata with E. phoenicea a woundrously beautiful tree is easily rased2 from seeds, but none of my European friends seem ever have succeeded to rear seedlings up. I saw the tree in 1855 & 18563 only on peculiar stony soil, the chemical constituents I had no means fully to ascertain, and when [if] even only one chemical element is wanting in the soil of the cultivated plant, it would be apt to perish.

Mr Webb4 writes, that an ounce of the seeds of Euc. macrocarpa could not be procured for less than £5 I fully believe that.

Regardfully your

Ferd. von Mueller.

 

Eucalyptus macrocarpa

Eucalyptus miniata

Eucalyptus phoenicea

1
Date stamped : Royal Gardens Kew 31 DEC 94, annotated in black ink by W. Watson : 1/1895 ( i.e. register number in Kew Inwards Book of specimens received ) and in red ink by [?W. Hemsley] : Ackd. 3.1.95 ( letter not found ).
2
raised?
3
i.e. during the North Australian Exploring Expedition.
4
W. H. Webb of Albany, WA.

Please cite as “FVM-94-11-24a,” 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 26 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/94-11-24a