Transverse curvature effects in axi-symmetric flow on a circulai cylinder are discussed and it is deduced that for small δ/a, where δ is the boundary layer thickness and a is the cylinder radius, transverse curvature effects are small, for δ/a = 0(1) the effect is felt mainly in the outer region and for δ/a » 1, both the inner and the outer regions are affected. It is argued that the last case can only be achieved experimentally in the laboratory if the radius Reynolds number Ra= U1a/v is small and the streamwise Reynolds number Rx=U1xlv is large, implying x/a large. New experimental data are presented for this case. The data show that both the mean and turbulent flow field scale on outer variables throughout the layer and, for Ra≥455, exhibit Reynolds number independence. No logarithmic region is found in the mean profiles, a result which is echoed by the absence of a shoulder in the streamwise turbulence profiles which clearly evidence that the flow in the layer is fully turbulent. A flow model is suggested, in physical terms, to explain the very high turbulence levels found close to the cylinder at values of Ra which should, according to stability theory, be bordering on laminar flow.