Re: Sciadopitys verticillata in Sharpe’s Fury. Sir Thomas Graham’s wife has great taste in plants and I was delighted to see mention of this unusual genus that I am more familiar with from the fossil record. Your description of it inspired me to look a little further and I then noticed that it was not until 1842 that Siebold and Zuccarini erected the genus Sciadopitys. Until that time, these plants were considered to be a species of Yew and were placed in the genus Taxus by Thunberg (1784). I also poked a little into the horticultural literature and saw that it was not until 1853 that the first plant reached Great Britain, though this died soon after. Then, following significant political changes in Japan, this plant made it’s return to England as cones and seeds for cultivation in 1861. I’m a huge fan of the Sharpe series and your writing and simply wished to share some very trivial observations about timelines that might be of some passing interest. Best wishes, Ian