From William Thiselton-Dyer1    24 November 1882

Royal Gardens Kew

Kew, Nov. 24. 82

 

My dear Sir Ferdinand

I have your letter of 10/102 and am very grateful for the specimens of Cycas Seemanni.

I shall carefully study the differences you point out between it and C. circinalis to which I fear nevertheless it is very nearly allied.

The section of the genera Cycas of which C. circinalis and C. Rumphii are the types is a very perplexing one as the different species seem to me to be little more than geographical races.

I wish I could get hold of your C. papuana if only in a small fragment.

As far as I can see Macrozamia is a good genus though perhaps distinguished rather by habit than by technical characters. Certainly in facies the Australian & S. African species have nothing in common and their origin can be diagnosed at a glance

Yours sincerely

W. T. Thiselton Dyer

 

Cycas circinalis

Cycas papuana

Cycas Rumphii

Cycas Seemanni

Macrozamia

 
1
MS annotation by M: 'Answ 28/1/83'. M would appear to have recorded the date incorrectly; see M to W. Thiselton-Dyer, 29 January 1883 (in this edition as 83-01-29b).
2
Letter not found.

Please cite as “FVM-82-11-24,” 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 25 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/82-11-24