To William Thiselton-Dyer   21 July 1891

21/7/911

 

I shall always gladly send anything, dear Mr Dyer, that may be required at Kew, if within my reach, but I see no chance of obtaining seeds (fruits) of Licuala grandis.

The fruits of Bowenia spectabilis var serratifolia,2 were not intended for sowing, but for the herbarium They are very difficult to obtain.

Regardfully

your always.

Ferd. von Mueller

 

Some of the fungs sent now are not rare; still they represent new localities of growth.3

I have no correspondents in New Britain now. Poor Mr Hunstein, and his compions4 were swallowed up by a volcanic outburst!5

 

Licuala grandis

Bowenia spectabilis var serratifolia

 
1
Stamped Royal Gardens Kew 24. Aug. 91 in centre margin.
2
Not in IPNI; error for Bowenia spectabilisvar serrata (Bailey 1883) or for Bowenia spectabilis var serrulata W. Bull (1878)?
3
There is a vertical red pencil line and the annotation: List ford. 16/9 91in red ink by [William Watson] in centre margin, f. 11, front), and beneath the postscript in red ink by [Thiselton Dyer]names sent and in lead pencil by William HemsleyExamined & reported | WH.
4
companions?
5
I have no correspondents ... volcanic outburst! is written on the back of the MS folio.The Argus,27 March 1888, p. 8 reports on the devastation caused by a supposed tidal wave following volcanic activity around the island of New Britain on 13 March 1888, wiping out all but three of the party that had been landed there earlier in the month to select a suitable location for a coffee plantation. The only trace of Hunstein found was a pair of boots and a single boot. See Ward and Day, (2003) for a discussion of the lateral collapse of the Ritter Island volcano on March 13 1888.

Please cite as “FVM-91-07-21,” 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/91-07-21