Flo <1> –
10 May
Dear Henry
I enclose you 2 from the G. Sempl. <2> What are they? I went with Raddi <3> yesterday to Careggi & found Bellis annua for the 1st time. Chironia maritima & Linum Strictum the wonders of the place, not out – plenty of Serapias, Genista genuensis, Vicia hirta – Lathyrus clymenum – Heiracium <sic> florentinum, &c – Will you have a bushel of A. roseum – bulbilli? I went to Careggi to get O <4> exscapum roots but it had disappeared – I enclose a specific character – no I can not find it – it concludes with O. umb. et nan. subsimile, petalis basi solutis, unguiculis gibbosionibus. <5> I have little doubt those were the expressions of Pliny himself whenever he saw the plant. Pray cultivate Cratægus florentina it is the handsomest European species
I wish for some account of the progress of the garden at Lacock to know what you are worthy of –
Yr Aff
W F S
Orchis provincialis or Cyrilli has flowered at Abbotsbury! <6> Do C. <7> or H. <8> draw flowers?Notes:
1. Florence.
2. Giardino de’ Semplici.
3. Joseph (Giuseppe) Raddi (1770–1829), Italian botanist.
4. Ornithogalum.
5. Ornithogalum umbellatum and nanum very similar, with lax petals at the base and twisted lobes (literally ‘fingernails’).
6. Abbotsbury, Dorset: home of William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways.
7. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.
8. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.