Ɛpsilon

From Thomas Kirk to Ferdinand von Mueller   [Dec 1867]

In shaded places on cliffs by the sea Great Barrier Island

Decr 1867

392

T. K.1

A tree about 25-40 ft high — wood hard & dense. — L2 obovate on short petioles— entire obtuse or retuse, smooth coriaceous — margins recurved. Fl3 solitary on or in axillary 2 or 3 fld fascicles (only buds seen.) — Frt a drupe 1 inch long or more. black when ripe — nuts 3 (one or two often abortive) brown curved smooth, — excessively hard.

Whole tree, but especially the bark, when wounded exudes a viscid whitish secretion wh hardens on exposure to the atmosphere—

Trunk from 9 inches to 3 feet in diameter.

Native name "Pau"— nuts formerly worn as necklaces by the chiefs

1

Writen in the margin.

2

Leaf.

3

Flower.

4

Note found with a specimen of an undetermined Achras species. Annotated by M: 'Achras (Sapota)'. Punctuation uses dashes of various lengths, standardized in the transcript to distinguish them from hyphens.

Please cite as “FVM-67-12-00a,” 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 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/67-12-00a