Melbury <1>
Dear Henry
All the plants in my list were out of doors – I shall give you another when I return to Abb. <2> the end of the week.
Thank you for the seeds, Lobelia Bivonæ & Erica Sicula are 2 Plants I want more than any – I will send you a specimen of Sedum litoreum Does anybody know the true Hispanicum? Your [sexfidum?] is I believe Tenores <3> pallens & the Hispanicum of most gardens.
I have been studying Crocuses & enclose you a poor specimen of suaveolens, Bert. from the Valle D’Inferno –<4> certainly distinct from Imperati, the nearest to it, in having a simple greenish spatha, a tall yellow stigma little indented, & a different look. One of the variegated vernus, has a white stigma. I am all curiosity to know more about Hyacinthus spicatus. <5> Which of Gussones <6> Sedums did you find at Nice – Pray continue to keep S. ceruleum or heptapetalum I have often sent roots of Arum tenuifolium but they never do – where did you get it? when I get back to Ab. I will send you some bits of Sedums as they seem so hardy. I hope you brought some of the yellow or pale Iris pumila it is not common in gardens. They will have the common great glaucous Euphorbia in Italy to be biglandulosa & that Myrsinites is dwarfer but I don’t know – E. fruticosa is what I want now. Have you the great Italian Characias which is now found out to be neither Characias nor Veneta, & which I call provisionally E. Italica – it is very handsome for Shrubberies. I cannot get Spinosa up. I enclose Marys <7> list what is your Narcissus? Had you any Campanula seed from me – or Arabis rosea & collina or the true Alyssum deltoideum we having been all along taken in by an Impostor. When do you go to town?
Yr Aff
W F S
Cynoglossum omphaloides <8>
Polygala chamæbuxus
Scorpion Senna
Evergreen Cytissus [sic]
– do triflorus
White hose in hose
red Jack in the box!
Christmas roses
mignionette
nettle leaved Celsia
Black Lavender
Arabis rosea
Rubus Chinensis
Fragaria Indica
Calycanthus præcox
Oxalis purpurea
Heleborus[sic] viridis
Andropogon dalechampii
Corchorus japonica
Double daisies
Nettle leaved Campan.
Pittosporum tobira
Fragaria nivalis?
Gilia capitata
Cowslips
double daffodils
Mr Whately’s cistus a brilliant rose colour
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Persian Cyclamens not quite in flower here, being in a shady spot, but they are very fine at Mrs Dillwyn’s <9> close to Swansea & have been flowering very well for some time past. –
My Raddis <10> very forward some ¼ yd high! –
| Anemone coronaria | Diosma odorata | |
| – Cumæ | Œnothera Lindleyana | |
| – double Scarlet Hortensis | Honey Alyssum | |
| Purple Senecio | Narcissus Italicus | |
| Coronilla Valentina | – true Soleil d’or | |
| Yellow Xeranthemum | – papyracea | |
| Crocus vernus | – Henry’s? | |
| – pusillus | Yellow Jessamine | |
| buff & lilac | Double Brompton Stock | |
| purple & [illegible word] | sing[l] do | |
| Scotch | [Queen?]stocks | |
| Winter Acconites | Pyrethrum ( Jane’s <11>) | |
| Laurustinus | – single do | |
| Medit. Stock | Geranium, Clemenstone <12> | |
| Evergreen Candytuft | Periwinkles big & little | |
| Gibraltar do | Double furze | |
| White Chrysanthemum |  |
Pyrus japonica |
| Yellow do | Lithospermum orientale | |
| Buff do | Coreopsis tinctoria | |
| Spanish brown do | Mezerion | |
| Yellow button do | Pelargonium of sorts | |
| Echium Creticum | Cistus Albidus | |
| Yellow Alyssum | – sage leaved | |
| – do orientalis | – poplar leaved | |
| Rosa Indica red – pink – minima – Ronalds seedling do yellow Banksia double Wallflower single do – winter do – warted Hypericum double lilac primroses double white single of all colours Erica Arborea – Carnea – Medit. Shrubby Oxeye daisy Lavatera annua – Ambigua – punctata white fumitory |
– Dr Buckland’s <13> Broad leaved thrift Lady Radnor’s <14> rocket Himâlaya dead nettle Rosemary Verbascum Cornelian Cherry Spotted Lungwort Double snowdrops single snowdrops [Starch?] hyacinths White hyacinths Scilla bifolia Double pink Hepatica single blue do Hydrangea Veronica buxbaumia Russian violets &cc |
Only think <15> of Hermannia alnifolia being quite hardy & full of flower – Let me know if the bulbs & large sedums you had 3 years ago are doing & if you want more –
Henry F. Talbot Esq MP
Lacock Abbey
Chippenham
Notes:
1. Melbury, Dorset: one of the Fox Strangways family homes; WHFT was born there.
2. Abbotsbury, Dorset: home of William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways.
3. Michel Tenore (1780–1861), Italian botanist & traveller.
4. Prof Antoine Bertoloni (1793–1868), Italian botanist, who classified this species. The Valle d’Inferno, or Valley of Hell, was a frequently used name, but probably this was the one near Caserta, not far from Naples where Strangways had his diplomatic posting.
5. See Doc. No: 02626 of March 1833.
6. Giovanni Gussone (1787–1866), Italian botanist.
7. Mary Thereza Talbot (1795–1861), WHFT’s cousin.
8. A list of plants, in hand of Mary Talbot.
9. Mrs Lewis Weston Dillwyn of Sketty Hall, near Swansea, mother-in-law of Emma Thomasina Llewelyn, née Talbot (1806–1881), photographer; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.
10. Tulipa Raddi.
11. Jane Harriot Nicholl, née Talbot (1796–1874).
12. The home of Isabella Catherine Franklen, née Talbot (1804–1874).
13. William Buckland (1784–1856), Dean of Westminster & scientist.
14. Probably Judith, daughter of Sir Henry Mildmay and second wife of William Pleydell-Bouverie, 3rd Earl of Radnor.
15. Written in WTFHS’s hand, with address on verso.