Mount Edgcumbe ^<1>
Devonport.
August 28^th 1869

My dear Henry

I have written out a list of the flower seeds sent home by Charlie, ^<2> & enclose it for your inspection.

He wishes them to be divided between Laycock & Mount E. but I think very likely that you possess several of them already – at least I recognise some of the names – while others are rather unintelligible. If you will tell me which you wish for, I will send them. –

Charlie got the seeds from the Botanical Garden at Adelaide – for he said there were no woods near Adelaide – & if there were, he might look for a year without finding anything. I fear there is nothing very rare among them. Bulbs would be better – but they could not come by Post.

We are going with Val ^<3> to Cotehele ^<4> on Monday – & a shooting party – till Saturday – when we return here for a few days. Our address there you know is

Cotehele House
Calstock
Tavistock

I hope you get good accounts from the Baths of Lucca?

What delicious weather! I hope Constance ^<5> is enjoying it – just the right thing for Laycock – indeed for everywhere –

The British fleet going out last Saturday was a fine sight – but rather hazy weather. They are beginning now to cry out for rain – unmindful of the fine harvest we have had, owing to the splendid dry weather. You need not return the list – Love to all –

Y^r aff^te Sister
Caroline

List of Seeds from Australia
Sent by Charles Edgcumbe in June 1869

Acacia dealbata
“ linearis
“ mollissima
“ wordea?
Agonis flexuosa
Beaufortia decussata^<6>
Callistemon lineare
“ rigidum
“ viminale
Calothamnus clavata
Cassia eremophylla
Fregosia? hakeafolia
Frenela crassivalvis
Hakea brachyryncha
“ cyclocarpa
“ eucalyptoides
Hardenbergia monophylla
“ ovata alba
“ ovata purple
Kennedya glabrata
Lagumaria Pattersonii
Melaleuca curvifolia
“ glabrescens
“ hypericifolia
Metrosideros violacea
Petalostyles labichoides
Scelero
Sclero-thammes? diffusus
Swainsonia Greigane?
Templetonia glauca

[envelope:]
Henry Fox Talbot Esq^{r
Laycock Abbey
Chippenham}

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Notes:

1. Mt Edgecumbe, near Plymouth: seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe.

2. Charles Earnest Edgcumbe (1838–1915), JP, WHFT’s nephew.

3. William Henry Edgcumbe, ‘Val’, 4^th Earl Mt Edgcumbe (1832–1917), JP & Ld Steward of the Royal Household; WHFT’s nephew ‘Bimbo’.

4. Cotehele, Cornwall: ancient house, seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe, now a National Trust Property.

5. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife.

6. Mary, Duchess of Beaufort (1630-1715) was a famous plant collector. Beaufortia, a plant from S W Australia, introduced into England in the early 19^th c., was named after her. Beaufortia decussata or cross-leaved Beaufortia, so called because on a stem adjacent pairs of leaves are at right angles to each other.