F. Mueller, ‘The Murray-scrub, Sketched Botanically’, 1850: A Humboldtian Description of Mallee Vegetation

Abstract

Although best known as a descriptive botanist, Ferdinand Mueller published an early account of the South Australian Mallee in the style of his scientific hero, Alexander von Humboldt. This vegetation type is found across southern arid Australia and includes several distinctive botanical features that Mueller sought to highlight. While his article was republished twice, each issue was in German and consequently this work has tended to be overlooked in scholarship on the history of Australian botany. Mueller's article is introduced here along with a translation into English for the first time.