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Document number: 3765
Date: 29 Dec 1835
Dating: reply to Doc no 03183, of 18 Dec 1835
Recipient: TALBOT William Henry Fox
Author: HOOKER William Jackson
Collection: British Library, London, Manuscripts - Fox Talbot Collection
Last updated: 20th February 2012

Glasgow.
Decr 29 1835

I think my dear Sir you are right <1> about your Umbelliferous Plant & that I am not far away. In my specimens the flowers are not in a good state & the fruit is not ripe & I was too hastily induced to consider it a dwarf state of Orlaya grandiflora. Let me observe however that your O. grandifl. is 3 times as large in the flower as my French specimens, & therefore more distinct in that respect from your Corfu plant, which I will beg you to compare with the next species described by De Candolle, in the Prodromus <2> viz: Orlaya platycarpa. I think you will find it to agree with that.

I mentioned to you that I would consult Lindley <3> about your Orchis which was new to me. I have now his answer. He says it is gymnadenia humilis of his Gen. et Species of Orchid. <4> On referring to that work p. 276. I find that he brings Orchis Nicademi. Tenori. Fl. Neap. <5> 2. p. 290 [illegible] 90 as a synonym. It certainly is a very interesting plant.

Are the seeds of the Veronica decussata you enclose, <6> produced in your own garden? If so they are the first I ever saw of British growth.

I replied to you through Mr Strangways <7> respecting Martius <8> plants & returned the slip of paper & wished to know how I had best become a Subscriber.

Most faithfully Yours,
W. J. Hooker


Notes:

1. See Doc. No: 03185 of 22 December 1835, to which this is the reply.

2. Augustin Pyrame de Candolle, Prodromus systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis … (Paris: Treuttel & Würtz, 1824–1873).

3. Prof John Lindley (1799–1865), botanist. For mention of the Orchis query, see Doc. No: 03179.

4. John Lindley, The Genera and Species of Orchidaceous Plants (London: Ridgways, 1830–1840).

5. Michel Tenore (1780–1861), Italian botanist & traveller, Flora napolitana … (Naples: 1811–1838).

6. See Doc. No: 03187, which indicates that the seeds came from William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.

7. WTHF Strangways.

8. Dr Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius (1794–1868), German botanist. [See Doc. No: 03181].

Result number 54 of 100:   < Back     Back to results list   Next >