Document information

Physical location:

81.05.00f

Plant names

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to the Gardeners' Chronicle, 1881-05 [81.05.00f]. R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora, J.H. Voigt and Monika Wells (eds), Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, <https://vmcp.rbg.vic.gov.au/id//letters/1880-9/1881/81-05-00f-final.odt>, accessed June 4, 2026

1
Letter not found. The text given here is from 'Encephalartos moorei', Gardeners' chronicle, 18 June 1881 (B81.06.01). It is dated to early May as the latest that it could be sent to have been included in this issue.
I beg to send you an account of Encephalartos (Macrozamia) Moorei. These notes were kindly procured by Mr. G. E. Layton, the Secretary for Queensland at the Melbourne International Exhibition. In a previous notice of this superb plant I referred to it as ;
2
See M to Gardeners' chronicle, March 1881 (in this edition as 81-03-00e) (B81.04.01).
but as confusion has arisen concerning that species, owing to imperfect material, I have deemed it preferable to give a new designation to the robust and tall species, retaining the original name for the small kind from the Richmond River, which supplied the main material for the first description of M. Miquelii. In forwarding to you now Mr. McDonald's own letter and pencil sketches,
3
It would seem that Layton sent a telegram to MacDonald, who in response sent Layton the following notes that were passed on to M and printed below his letter to the Gardeners' chronicle:
In reply to your telegram, I beg to enclose a rough sketch of one of the Macrozamias measured for your information, the height of the same being 15 feet, and about 2 feet in diameter. There were others that measured 20 feet in stem; length of fronds, 7 feet; circumference, about 6 feet 4 inches. The cones or fruit measure from 2 to 3 feet in length. In this locality, or within a radius of ten miles, they are numerous, and principally grow on high stony ridges. Beyond the distance above named from Springsure? I know of none growing. They are of very slow growth. I should say the one from which the sketch is taken is over one hundred years old. I have been resident here for seven years, and know of several young trees near my residence, in which I have observed but little difference in size during that period; they appear, however, to be very hardy— in fact difficult to kill. I have observed many trees in this neighbourhood which have been attacked by bush fires, and their leaves are completely destroyed, but the stem again throws out fronds, and which appear to grow as vigorously as the former. There are also several trees from 15 to 20 feet high, which have almost fallen to the ground, the fronds of which turn up, and continue in growth. The nuts, when young, are said to be used by the opossums and other animals of that kind; but they are, when matured, said to be poisonous to human beings; although the blacks make use of them by soaking them in water for two months, after which they break the outer shell; secondly they grate the nut on a rough stone, and form it into a kind of pulp, which they mix and bake, making it into a bread. I understand the nuts are but little used now by the natives; but in 1860, when I first visited this district as an explorer, the nuts were frequently found in the native's camps; at which time, and for some years subsequently, I believe they were regularly used when in season. J. E. McDonald.
MacDonald's sketch was not published with the article. Although the name is printed as 'J. E. McDonald', the writer was almost certainly John Graham MacDonald, the Resident Magistrate and Gold Commissioner at Springsure, Qld, at this time; he took up that position in 1874, consistent with the length of residence stated in these notes. M later nominated him as a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society; see M to the Royal Geographical Society, London, 13 February 1882 (in this edition as 82-02-13b).
I desire to bring this widely under notice, as the stems of so stately a plant ought to become here an article of horticultural export, in the same manner as a trade in stems of large size was initiated by myself. I have from Mr. Layton one of the two stems of the specimen plants of the Exhibition, ready to be sent to Kew.
Ferd. von Mueller.