27 G FERDINAND VON MUELLER. 



is concerned, and from this date up to the time uf his death it may 

 be said that he was always engaged upon some publication dealing 

 with the Australian flora. 



One of the earliest of these was the Plants Indigenous to the 

 Colony of Victoria, whilst between the years 1858 and 1881 eleven 

 parts of the Fragmenta P/iypy/niphicB AustraliiB were issued ; this 

 work being, we believe, the first published in Latin in Australia. 

 Its object was to contain descriptions of new species of plants and 

 observations of importance on others whicii came under his notice, 

 the whole being intended as a record leading up to a comprehensive 

 flora of Australia, which it was his long-cherished desire to issue. 

 When the time came, however, for carrying the work into execution, 

 it was apparent that it could only be successfully done by someone 

 who had access to the type specimens in Europe, and this being 

 impossible in the case of Dr. Mueller, the work was published by 

 Bentham, associated with the former. All collections were first 

 examined by him, then sent to London, revised, and finally dealt 

 with by Bentham, the result being the seven classical volumes 

 forming the Flora Australiensis, published between 1863 and 1878. 

 We quote the following words from Mr. Bentham's introduction to 

 the "Flora": — "When it was first contemplated to bring out a 

 general Flora of Australia under Government sanction. Dr. Mueller 

 was naturally looked to as the botanist best qualified for undertaking 

 the task of preparing it ; and in the hope that it would be entrusted 

 to him he had devoted his utmost energies to collecting the necessary 

 materials. But there was one indispensable step, the examination 

 of European herbaria, where the published types were deposited, 

 which he was unable to take ; and it is a signal proof of the 

 generosity of his disposition, and the absence of all selfishness, 

 that when it was proposed to him that the preparation of the Flora 

 should be confided to me, on account of the facilities which my 

 position here gave me for the examination of the Australian col- 

 lections I have mentioned above, he not only gave up his long- 

 cberished projects in my favour, but promised to do all in his power 

 to assist me — a promise which he has fulfiUed with the most perfect 

 faith." 



Already the value of his work had been recognized by his 

 election into the Royal Society in 1861, and ten years later he was 

 created a Baron of the Kingdom of Wiirtemburg. Honours of various 

 kinds began to reward his efforts, but instead of tempting him to 

 rest upon Iii? laurels, they only seemed to spur him on to further 

 work. 



In 1879 he commenced the publication of what is perhaps his 

 most important single contribution to our knowledgeof the Australian 

 flora — the ten decades of the Fncalgptographia, a difficult genus, in 

 which naturally he was deeply interested. Not only did the purely 

 scientific side of the work appeal to him, but here as in other work 

 the economic aspect found in him a zealous investigator. It was 

 mainly through his efforts that attention was drawn to the supposed 

 hygienic properties of the trees ; and it was through his instru- 

 mentality that the Blue Gum — Eitcalgptus Globuhis — was introduced 



