To Odoardo Beccari   24 January 1887

24/1/87

By this post, dear Dr Beccari, I send you portion of a leaf and of a fruiting panicle from what appears to me a new species of Livistona. This material came just to hand from the Louisades,1 where the Governor of British New Guinea obtained it in a recent gubernatorial visit. I induced his Excellency to collect plants and as he is a M.D. I had no difficulty in inspiring Dr MacGregor with the idea, to investigate the Flora of his ample and rich territory also to some extent. To encourage him in his future researches also, I would like, that you early describe under our joined authority this palm as Livistona Macgregori, should you concur with my view, that it [i]s2 new3

Kindly write a few lines, when this letter reaches you, whether the specimen reached you all rightly

with regardful remembrance

your Ferd. von Mueller

 

Livistona Macgregori

1
An archipelago c. 250 km S.E. of Papua New Guinea.
2
editorial addition: MS damaged.
3
No Livistona species described jointly by Beccari and M is listed in IPNI.

Please cite as “FVM-87-01-24b,” 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 26 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/87-01-24b