From John Thurston to Ferdinand von Mueller 13 Jan 1883
Thornbury. Suva. Fiji
13th January 1883
My dear Sir,
I have been quite unable to answer your note of the 29 Nov. last1 in consequence of our Legislative Council having been in session and my time wholly given to official duties.
This note is just to forward you some scales of the cone of a Male Cycas which I have at last found.
The cone is from two to two & a half feet long and 4. or 4½ inches in diameter in its greatest breadth —
General shape, long, and pointed. The end when quite ripe bending over.2
The specimens were taken in the vicinity of a number of female trees the whole of which, without exception, were of the round seed variety, not the long, oval, one. The cone emits a strong perfume & reminds me of the smell of salted codfish when rather strong.
I shall await with interest your examination of these scales, but will write you more at length via New Zealand
Have you had time amid your pressing duties to [decide] of the coco-nut of a new variety I sent you some time since, with straight unbranched spadix?3
I have found a perfectly new Fan Palm, hitherto unseen & unnoticed by any one. Specimens shall be sent to you.
Faithfully yours
John B. Thurston.
Cycas
Please cite as “FVM-83-01-13,” 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