Glasgow.
May 16. 1836.
My dear Sir
Mr Murray <1> gave me the enclosed <2> this morning. He had made some memorandum upon it, after explaining the contents to Reid & then shut it up in a book.
You have indeed Spring weather in the South. Our H. Chestnuts <3> & our Lilacs will certainly not be out for 3 weeks to come. I hope you gathered good specimens of Narcissus poeticus, a very rare plant in any station. Aucuba japonica is certainly very scarce in fruit & I should be curious to see the structure. De Candolle knew nothing of it. He puts the Genus among Corneæ. See Prodromus <4> v. 4. p. 274.
The Moss you enclose is Bryum hornum in a young state.
Watson <5> I know will be thankful to have habitats of Plants. Indeed without such assistance he can never make a complete Bot. Guide. His address is “Thames Ditton, by Kingston”.
Could the Epimedium you allude be from Douglas’ <6> seeds from California or N. W. America? If so it is my Epim. hexandrum, a most interesting species.
Mr Gardner embarked today for South America. I think you expressed a wish in one of your letters to have a copy of your his “Mosses.” <7> If so that letter also I left with Murray. But I shall see him in a day or two & ascertain the point. Mr G. has left 6 copies for sale; all that remain: & if I find you have maintained your desire to have one, I will take care it shall be one of the best. It is very beautifully got up.
Very faithfully
Yours,
W. J. Hooker.
H. F. Talbot Esqre
31. Sackville street <8>
Notes:
1. Stewart M Murray (1789-1858), first Curator of the Glasgow Botanic Gardens.
2. See Doc. No: 03275.
3. See horse chestnuts.
4. Augustin Pyrame de Candolle (1778–1841), and his son, Alphonse Louis Pierre Pyrame de Candolle (1806-1893), Prodromus systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis… (Paris: Treuttel & Würtz, 1824–1873).
5. Hewett Cottrell Watson (1804–1881), botanist, of Thames Ditton.
6. David Douglas (1798–1834), botanical collector.
7. George Gardner (1812–1849), Musci Britannici, or pocket herbarium of British mosses (Glasgow: lithographed by Allan & Ferguson, 1836). [See Doc. No: 00353].
8. 31 Sackville Street, London residence of the Feildings, often used as a London base by WHFT.