25, Wilton Place.
S.W.
London

June 5 1875

My dear Sir

In reply to your letter I would suggest that the little bulbs on the capsule of Hessia spiralis you speak of may possibly have been the bulbiform seeds of that plant specially described by Salisbury ^<1> in the Paradisus Londinensis under Carpolyza spiralis (the name he gives to the plant) p. t. 63 these bulbiform seeds in this and some other Amaryllida seem to have been a subject of controversy between him and Brown ^<2> as to their structure and as to whether bulbiform and normal seeds can or not exist in the same species – all which is entered into in much detail in Salisbury’s “The Genera of Plants a fragment” published by J. E Gray in 1866 – p. 120 and 121.

I shall be very glad to do my best to answer any similar questions you may have to put

Yours very truly

George Bentham

H. Fox Talbot Esq

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Notes:

1. Richard Anthony Salisbury (1761–1829), The paradisus londinensis: containing plants cultivated in the vicinity of the metropolis (London).

2. Robert Brown (1773–1858), botanist.