[[1]]
HM "Erebus" Hobart Town
May 21st 1841
received Dec 10 1841.
My dear Father
When I last wrote to you I was quite ashamed to have been under the necessity of
sending you so disfigured a sheet, but there was no help for it, as the letter was in
time, & that is all for the vessel. Mr Gunn having left this place I find it very dark the
more so as winter has set in & Cryptogamiae are all the plants to be found. The past
summer has been here intensely hot so that the herbage on the plains & the Gum tree
woods are in many places burnt up, the fires among the latter have been so extensive
that on the faces of the somber coloured hills there occur immense red tracts caused
by the scorched leaves, the plants have all scattered their seeds & even some few are
flowering for a second time as the Epacris impressa*1, the little Aotis[?]*2 & some of the
Acacia*3 for instance.
The other day I started for the Huon River*4 with a Capt Briggs*5 in a little yacht he has
with the intention of us ascending the stream as far as where the Huon Pine grows,
though in this we were disappointment having had very bad weather, with dead foul
winds, & a current running four miles an hour down the stream -- I was however
extremely pleased with what I saw, though here as elsewhere all over the colony the
hills are covered down to the waters edge with the dull lurid coloured gum trees. After
leaving Hobarton*6 we went through a narrow passage one of the mouths of the
Derwent*7 called D'Entrecasteaux Channell*8[sic], it is a very beautiful estuary
reminding me of the Kyles of Bute*9 very strongly, indeed were it not for those eternal
monotonous green trees it would exceed our far famed Clyde*10 in that spot we landed
in several places among a dense scrub under the trees, formed by different Asters*11,
Acacia, the Leucopogon Richei*12 leuco &c & wherever there was any damp spots the
cutting grass shot out leaves 8--10 ft long. On the Huon the character of the plants is
much more alpine, the gulleys are dense in the extreme wherever such gullies occur
with a small stream in them the vegetation is both tropical & very beautiful but so sunk
& choked up with dead timber that to progress is very difficult -- The ground is covered
here with some beautiful ferns the Allantodia australis*13 which I had not before seen &
the Polypodium*14 vespertilionis both very like one another have large glaucous looking
deltoid Fronds*15 which lye[sic] horizontally & are 3--4 ft long or more & grow under a
perpetual shade of the Pittosporum bicolor*16 with silver undersides to the leaves. The
Anopterus glandulosus*17 with large brilliant green shining leaves, the sassafras*18
which is not a Cryptocarya
[[2]] but an Atherosperma*19 -- among all those I found some tree ferns exceeding
anything I ever could have believed[.] One I measured was 29 ft 8 inches high the
trunk 11 ft in circumference at 5 ft above the ground & the fronds 14 ft long & several
near it were 3 or 4 ft higher but I could not get up to measure them -- another shorter
was 13 ft in girth & a third about 14 ft high divided at half way up into 4 stems each
bearing a crown of leaves, their trunks instead of being brown as they look at home
are covered with the beautiful Hymenophyllum*20 nitens & others, the Psilotum
triquetrum*21 & Asplenium*22 laxum, Polypodium grammitidis*23, Grammitis australis*24 &
completely covering them with a lively but pale green foliage -- In these valleys the
green trees do not branch till after shooting up to an immense height when such stems
are often as straight as a ships mast & 8--10 ft in diameter, very little ever grows on
their stems until they decay & fall down when a profusion of mosses, ferns, lichens &
young plants immediately sprout out from it, on one dead trunk a tree fern was growing
at least 6 ft high. Mosses abound here especially the Hookeria pennata*25 &
quadrifaria?*26. both have a glistening appearance, the latter especially, which always
selects the dampest & darkest spots where in broad day light it would be difficult to
read an ordinary book. The Hypnum cochleariformis?[sic]*27 hangs from the trees in
abundance with a new? Anomodon?*28 & Hookeria -- at the mouth of the Huon river
there is a small island about 3 acres big formed completely of fossil shells in
sandstone, it is pierced through with several large arched holes & on it an
Asplenium*29 very like our marolum marinum*30 grows, I think it is A. obtusatum*31.
[No signature]
[[3]] [page comprises a coloured illustration of a potentially new Hookeria species from
Tasmania]
J.D. Hooker [signature] | June 26 1841
[[4]] Hookeria nov sp ?
Trunks of the Dicksonia arborea
Banks of the Huon apposite Port Cygnet
Van Diemens Land.
Hookeria
Trunks of Dicksonia
River Huon, Tasmania
ENDNOTES
1. Epacris impressa, is a plant of the heath family, Ericaceae, native to SE Australia,
growing in heathland, shrubland or open forest, generally a small shrub with small stiff
leaves.
2. Aotis – [unknown as to what this plant spelling interpretation could be]
3. Acacia: is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of
the family Fabaceae, pod-bearing, with sap and leaves.
4. Huon River, the fourth largest river in Tasmania, Australia. 170 km in length, and
runs through the fertile Huon Valley. Named after the French explorer Jean--Michel
Huon de Kermadec.
5. [Possibly]: Benjamin Spooner Briggs (1835--1872). Experienced US Seaman and
master mariner.
6. Hobart[on]: is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of
Tasmania.
7. The Derwent is a river in Tasmania, Australia. Named after River Derwent, Cumbria,
by British Commodore John Hayes who explored it in 1793. The name is Brythonic
Celtic for "valley thick with oaks".
8. The D'Entrecasteaux Channel is a region of water between Bruny Island and the
SE. of the mainland of Tasmania. Extending between the estuaries of the Derwent and
the Huon Rivers.
9. The Kyles of Bute are a narrow sea channel separating the northern end of the Isle
of Bute from the Cowal peninsula, part of the Scottish mainland.
10. The River Clyde is a river in Scotland. It is the ninth longest river in the UK, and the
third longest in Scotland. Flowing through the major city of Glasgow, it was an
important river for shipbuilding and trade in the British Empire.
11. Aster is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae.
12. Leucopogon Bichei ‘almost exclusively Australian or Polynesian’ detailed in the "A
contribution to the flora of Australia" William Woolls. 1867. Leucopogon is a genus of
about 150--160 species of shrubby flowering plants belonging to the family Ericaceae,
in the section of that family formerly treated as the separate family Epacridaceae. They
are native to Australia, New Zealand, Caledonia, the western Pacific Islands and
Malaysia, with the greatest species diversity in southeastern Australia.
13. Allantodia australis. Accepted name Diplazium australe is a small fern occurring in
eastern Australia, New Zealand and Norfolk Island. The habitat is moist shaded areas,
often occurring in rainforest.
14. Polypodium is a genus of 75–100 species of true ferns, widely distributed
throughout the world, with the highest species diversity in the tropics.
15: Deltoid Fronds.Deltoid (deltoidea) or deltate: Triangular, stem attaches to side. A
Frond is a large, divided leaf. In both common usage and botanical nomenclature, the
leaves of ferns are referred to as fronds.
16. Pittosporum bicolor, known as the banyalla, is a shrub or small tree growing in
south eastern Australia. Found in moist areas near streams or rainforests, south of
Captains Flat. Sometimes seen as an epiphyte on Soft Tree Ferns.The specific epithet
bicolor refers to the dark green above the leaf, and the silvery white below.
17. Anopterus glandulosus (Native Laurel or Tasmanian Laurel) is a species of shrub
or small tree in the family Escalloniaceae, endemic to the rainforests of western and
southern Tasmania.
18. Sassafras is a genus of three extant and one extinct species of deciduous trees in
the family Lauraceae, native to eastern North America and eastern Asia
19. Atherosperma moschatum, the Southern Sassafras or Blackheart Sassafras is an
evergreen tree native to the cool temperate rainforests of Tasmania, Victoria and New
South Wales, Australia.
20. Hymenophyllum is a genus of ferns in the family Hymenophyllaceae. Its name
means "membranous leaf", referring to the very thin translucent tissue of the fronds,
which gives rise to the common name filmy fern for this and other thin leaved ferns.
21. Psilotum is a genus of fern like vascular plants, triquetrum is one of 4 types of the
genus and is unusual in that it branches dichotomously, lives underground and
possesses vascular tissue.
22. Asplenium is a genus of about 700 species of ferns.
23. Polypodium grammitidis. This name is unresolved. Otherwise see Polypodium14
24. Grammitis australis var. villosa Hook.f. Published: Hooker, J. D. 1855: The Botany
of the Antarctic Voyage of H. M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror, in the years
1839--1843. Vol. 2. Flora Novae-Zelandiae Part II Flowerless plants. London, Lovell
Reeve. p.378 Grammitis is a genus of ferns in the family Polypodiaceae.
25. Accepted name Cyathophorum bulbosum.
26. Hookeria quadrifaria is a species of moss first described in 1808.
27. Possibly refers to Hypnum cupressiforme (cypress-leaved plait-moss or hypnum
moss) a common and widespread species of moss belonging to the genus Hypnum.
28. Anomodon is a genus of moss in the family Thuidiaceae.
29. Asplenium is a genus of about 700 species of ferns.
30. Asplenium marinum is known as the sea spleenwort because of its preference for
maritime habits around the coasts of Europe from Italy in the South to Norway in the
North.
31. A. obtusatum group of Asplenium.
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