24/3/76
The plant, sent by you, dear Mr Ramsay, is Euodia hortensis of Forster1 among Rutaceae. It is not rare in Polynesia.
I gladly accept your offer of some of the new Cycas seeds, especially as in the still continued ruin of the Department I must rely entirely on private friends for keeping up the means for interchanges.
It is a pity, that we did not get even one leaf and one male and female scale, to arrive at a correct idea of what the species is. Surely your collector might send that for a few shillings by post. Dr Bennett promised to arrange with Signor d'Albertis about getting plants for me. I have reminded him of it again. When will the Italian Naturalist leave again.2
If on any occasion for a few £ any really good rare and showy zoolog objects now and then can be picked up for a continental museum,3 then pray let me know, as I would be a purchaser.
It seems a pity, that you cannot send a collector yourself to New Guinea.
Has Mr Pettard arrived in Sydney? Perhaps I can arrange to find him a companion. That is, what he requires or rather himself wishes.4
With best salutation your
Ferd. von Mueller.
Cycas
Euodia hortensis
Rutaceae
Please cite as “FVM-76-03-24,” 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 18 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/76-03-24