From Edward Ramsay   25 August 1875

Aust Mus. Syd.

Aug 25th 1875

To

Baron Ferd Von Mueller [...]1

&c &c

 

My dear Baron Mueller

By this mail I send you fronds of two kinds of Cycas from Rockingham bay2 — they may be only varieties but are nevertheless very distinct in growth —

No 1 is not common but found growing with the other No 2 which is the most common one in that district Both are dwarf growing kinds

No 1 has a distinct brownish down on the young fronds & they are larger the pinnae closer together & of more elegant wavy habit — the base of the frond (rachis) is seldom spiny except just at the base of the lowermost pinnae & as you will observe the shape of the rachis from thence to the stem of the plant is somewhat angular —these [ No 1 ] fruits like the No 2 of which I sent you some down in the [sea] post some time ago

3the fruit is small and sessile or nearly so in both species? —4

No 2 is the common Cardwell variety with closely [tufted] fronds fruit as above5 the fronds are always very thorny6

The cycads growing near Rockhampton —are all tall growing kinds and the fruit hanging down in bunches are large (egg shaped)

yours very truly

E. P. Ramsay7

 

Cycas

 
1
The MS is a letter-press copy and the text here is very smudged;  the '&c   &c' in the next line indicate that it was a post-nominal abbreviation, probably either ‘F.R.S.’ or ‘C.M.G.'
2
Qld.
4
Marginal drawing inserted against this statement, with text indicating that the length of the fruiting frond (i.e. the distance between the two straight lines in the sketch) is '[6 to 8 inches]'. See 75-08-25a_image01.jpg.
5
An asterisk refers back to the image.
6
spiney deleted before thorny.
7
See M to E. Ramsay, 29 August 1875.

Please cite as “FVM-75-08-25a,” 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 23 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/75-08-25a