Naples
Oct. 18 –

Dear Henry

As I have not heard again from you at Geneva, I begin to fear you will miss receiving my packet of Col. ^<1> montanum which Viviani ^<2> tells me he sent according to my direction to you at the écu Geneva, on the 27. Sep^r. A gardener of Tenores ^<3> is now collecting C. neapolitanum for me (& you) on M^te S. Angelo – C. a mare. ^<4> it is a distinct var, according to me, of C. alpinum – C. bivonæ is very handsome – its leaves immediately succeed the flowers, as in Scilla &c – & it is therefore hazardous to remove it till spring There is a var, equally fine, earlier, & without leaves, which too when they appear, Tenore says are different from bivonæs – it is in his garden & I shall watch it – it is not C. variegatum neither.

Scilla intermedia has really broad strap leaves coming up – it is between S. autumnalis & S. amœna – a good hit of Gussones ^<5> – I have seed of it for you as you are the only one I know with patience to watch them & see if it be a permanent character which it is just possible it may not be.

If this reaches you in London pray tell the proper officer at the Travellers that I have been abroad ever since Sept^r last year & shall stay till 1829 – in which case he ought not to press for my annual payment – which as I left an order for it at Hoare’s, ^<6> he would else apply for, and get.

John ^<7> will bring you a packet of seeds – he found Cyc. persicum wild on M^t Olympus Bithyonus – which he says is a paradise he found Cordia myxa at the [illegible] in Syria – & subsisted on acorns of Quercus ballota (the Belloot of the Arabs) in the land of Ammon. Pray make him tell you his adventures they will make you wish to go to Egypt & Syria I have no doubt. Raddi ^<8> is there by this time & I have no doubt in his glory – I only wish John had drawn for some of the deserts to say nothing of other places, he describes as very picturesque. Write to me here –

Y^r Aff^tely
W F S

Tenore has two new autumnal crocuses now in blow – one C. odorus very peculiar tho it may be reticulatus of Fl. Taurica – with a green leafy spathe peculiar lilac petals, no striæ, and style, & strong smell of saffron the other C. Tommasii has obscure dark blue striæ almost collected into a spot at the base of the petal membranous spathe as usual, & ciliated leaves. C. odorus has reticulated bulb – the latter I have not seen

Henry Talbot Esq^r
31 Sackville Street London
Laock [sic] Abbey ^<9>
Chippenham
Wilts

---

Notes:

1. Colchicum.

2. Domenico Viviani (1772–1840), botanist.

3. Michel Tenore (1780–1861), Italian botanist & traveller.

4. Castellammare.

5. Giovanni Gussone (1787–1866), botanist.

6. The Travellers Club was a gentlemans' club established in 1819 in London, catering to those who had visited foreign countries, diplomats posted to London and their guests. The Hoares were bankers.

7. John George Charles Fox Strangways (1803–1859), MP.

8. Joseph (Giuseppe) Raddi (1770–1829), Italian botanist.

9. Readdressed in another hand.