/ 



BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 157 



In my letters, left with His Excellency, I have stated, that my col- 

 lections under the hands of Dr. Sonder contain more than a thousand 

 species of Van Diemen's Land plants. The very desired work of your 

 celebrated son, ' Flora Tasmanica/ could, I am inclined to believe, re- 

 ceive ample additions from these sources; for I am convinced that 

 Mr. Gunn did not find all the species which Mr. Charles Stuart pro- 

 cured for me. Of these, as well as any other Australian plants of 

 my collection, I shall be but too happy to offer Dr. Joseph Hooker any 

 specimens which he may consider useful for his pursuits ; and I would 

 take the liberty to advise Dr. Hooker to spend a weel^ or two on a visit 

 to Hamburg, as Dr, Sonder can also give from my letters perhaps 

 much acceptable information, 



Torrumbarrey, 5th January, 1854, 



r 



Being delayed here (on the Murray River) for a day, in order to re- 

 cover some articles stolen from me while travelling lately to the junc- 

 tion of the Darling, and having apparently exhausted the Murray ve- 

 getation, as far as the season will permit me to add to my collection, 

 I find an hour's agreeable employment in communicating to you the re- 

 sults of my botanical researches since ray last letter has been despatched 

 ("Victoria Eange," end of November). I have since that time exa- 

 mined the neighbourhood of Mount Zero (already favourably known 

 by Sir Thomas Mitchell's researches), and I had here the gratification 

 of adding a considerable number of undesciibed or rare plants to my 

 last botanical stores, amongst them a most handsome new genus of 

 Myrtace^s {Scm^yomyrtuB Jiexamerd) with a steel-blue scarious calyx, hex- 

 androus and apetalous, otherwise allied to Calycothrlx or rather LhotzJcya, 

 From Mount Zero I proceeded to the Murray River, along the Avoca, 

 traversing the Mallee scrub about Lake Lalbert, and towards the Dar- 

 ling, and in this journey there have been nearly three hundred species 

 added to the Victoria Flora (including those previously discovered on 

 the Grampians) ; so that my notes and collections comprise now about 

 1500 species from this colony. 



The Mallee scrub of this Colony proved not to be so rich in new 

 plants as 1 anticipated. I was, however, surprised to observe, that 

 not only a large share of the Sonth-Australian Murray plants extend 

 so far easterly, but also that so many rarities, which I formerly only 

 noticed on Lake Torrens (many degrees further north), range as species 

 to be included in the Flora of this Colony. Of most of the species I 



