[Taxacom] Identification Needed: Fruit from a Pacific island

[Diana Horton]

John Dransfield (Kew) identified it as a Metroxylon and suggested it 
is probably M. sagu.  Many thanks to all who responded!

Yes, I do realize that a more specific locality would be helpful, but 
when dealing with the public, one has to go with what (little) they 
give you.  A local family contacted me after their father died 
because this fruit was one of his treasured mementos from the time he 
spent in the Pacific during World War II.  Their information on where 
he was stationed is sketchy, although they believe that he spent some 
time in the Philippines, Hawaii and on Johnston Island.  Since these 
are such disparate localities and there is the possibility that he 
was in additional localities, it seemed best to me to go no further 
than to indicate it was collected somewhere in the Pacific.

-- diana

At 02:32 AM 1/10/2008, Geoff Read wrote:
> >>> Diana Horton <diana-horton at uiowa.edu> 09/01/08 7:30 AM  wrote>>>
>I am looking for someone who might be able to identify a fruit
>collected on a Pacific island circa 1940s.  I can provide an image.
>
>Intriguing question. I wonder if it is still edible? But as a 
>Pacific island inhabitant, I feel obliged to murmur quietly that 
>there are more than a few Pacific Islands (some 20,000 to 30,000) 
>and that the bounds of the Pacific Ocean permitting the growth of 
>fruit include a sizeable part of the planet.  Perhaps a more precise 
>geographic designation would be useful in this instance?
>
>Geoff