Turin
May 25 <1>
My dear Henry
I make sure this will find you at Nice & I must write to tell you all my botanizing between Genoa & this & to congratulate you on the delight I am sure you must have had in the Riv. di Ponente which is as much superior to the Levante in Botany as I think it inferior in beauty. I went as far as Napoleons ne plus ultra <2> between Noli <3> & Finale what excellent names for leaving off at. On the rocks near the gallery I found a little Statice not yet in flower wch I take to be a variety of the S. reticulata which grows at Penrice <4> in such situations – the only rock Statice I know all the rest I have seen grow in salt marshes & sands, & the Armeria seems to be established very properly as a distinct genus. This latter I found in a meadow on the top of the Apennines in quantities with Rhinanthus e.g. O. [mons.?]& a little Stellaria very pretty – upright stem & nodding flowers. Between Genoa & Savona I found to my surprise a great deal of Spiræa filipendula – Dorycnium suffruticosum of Mauri <5> or Monspeliense of others – Lotus hirsutus – Aphyllanthes juncea Linum nodiflorum – a lilac one small & a large white flowered one very handsome with red veins – Euphorbias various & unknown a ghost of Antirrhinum latifolium which however was afterwards found in substance by some boys who would follow me to shew me the road which nobody can step off of without risk of their lives & whom I made scramble for flowers – I found a liliago or a liliastrum or something of that sort which I don’t know the name of, also strange sights of shrubs outlandish plants unknown – among them a little suffrutescent Teucrium or Teucrioides minima flora [cæruleo cælesti <6> quite beautiful – I only found one bit growing in a rock outside the road to the sea & took it all so do not hope to find it. I am in doubt whether the Pine of that coast is Pinus Pinastre or not it looks too poor I think for that – pray make out if they have Pinus maritima & P. Halepensis which I suspect. I crossed the Apennine from Savona to Mondovi which is the shortest & worst road to Turin & the Scenery which is only pretty on the descent to the sea does not pay you. I had the misfortune to break down at Ceva the Ursprung <7> I suppose of the illustrious house of that name & was comforted on hearing the Pope & Cardinal Russo had both done so before While the carriage was mending I found a good deal of Antirrhinum latifolium – a pretty little Gypsophila – an Astragalus with purple flowers – There are some fine views of the Alps – the Mte Viso I think the finest mountain I ever saw Mt Cenis does not make such a figure – The Colla di Tenda looks like the very joint of the Alps & Apennines – & seems so near that till I saw the other Alps & heard its name I took it for an Apennine in fact you see a branch of it covered with Snow from Genoa it ought to be an interesting spot for Geology as well as botany – The summit is very fine as you see it from Mondovi – I have not been to the Superga because we have had cloudy weather & rain since I came. – Pray go to the Botanic garden here I have been once & had some conversation with the Capo <8> as they call him – He seems to know a good deal & would be particularly pleased with any intelligence you could bring him from Nice – He has visited that coast but imperfectly & wants to know more of it. He speaks of some sorts of Dianthus which grow by the sea which I did not find but I hope you may – I think there is the D. articulatus a Sicilian plant among them – He promises me a rich harvest on the Montcenis – There is an Allium with bright purple flowers that he brought from the Col de Tende pray look out for it – he has several other pretty things in his garden particularly a Cynoglossum umbellatum very queer. He has given me Dianthus [fincatus] – Phleum Guardi – festuca ciliata – Farsetia halimifolia (one of Decandolle’s Farces)<9> & a curious Linacea from Nice of which I enclose leaves & a flower.
I have found very little here – on the colline de Turin there grows plenty of Melittis grandiflora & a leaf like Anemone hepatica but which I can not imagine can grow here. Orchideæ & Leguminosæ are quite fallen off – I think none of the rocks I have seen equal those of Naples & the Amalfi coast for richness of vegetation tho the variety & nature of the plants are more interesting Tivoli comes nearest to them – I wish I could have paid a visit to Salerno or C. a mare <10> this month. Write to England –
Yr Aff
W T H F S
A Monsieur
Monsieur W H F. Talbot
à la Poste Restante
à Nice
Notes:
1. Possibly 1823, when WHFT was on his way north from Naples, but was actually in Florence on 25 May [see Doc. No: 01081] and only reached Nice in June [see Doc. No: 01092]. WTHFS too would have been returning from Naples.
2. No further/thus far and.
3. This placename in N. Italy is a homonym of Latin ‘Noli’: I do not want (to).
4. Penrice Castle and Penrice House, Gower, Glamorgan, 10 mi SW of Swansea: home of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot.
5. Ernesto Mauri (1791–1836), Italian botanist.
6. With very small flowers of sky blue.
7. Origin.
8. Head.
9. Augustin Pyramus (or Pyrame) de Candolle (1778-1841), Swiss botanist.
10. Castellamare.
11. Lanslebourg.