TALBOT1021

Glasgow.
Nov^r 24^th 1822

My dear Sir

I had, some time ago, the pleasure of receiving the little collection of plants you were kind enough to leave for me with Mess^rs Treuttell & Wurtz, ¹ & had the gratification of finding some that were quite new to my collection & others that are interesting from their locality, or the notes you have made upon them. Cardamine latifolia, Seriola Attmensis, Echium calycinum, Daucus mauritanicus, Anemone pavonina & Allium album I never possessed native specimens of before; &, as such, even the smallest specimens are valuable: but if you should visit the countries where these are found again, I hope you will be so circumstanced as to be able to collect larger portions of the plants. Your Hieracium with an oblongo-elliptical, petiolated & remarkably hispid root-leaf is new to me altogether & I wish heartily we could get more. Fraga Vaillantii of Lapeyrouse ² is now generally called Potentilla splendens. It is a rare plant. Your Fern, from Nice, with the long & lone pinnæ, is Pteris cretica. That from La grande Chartreuse & Grenoble, marked “Asplenium”, is the Aspidium Halleri of Willd. ³ (Asp. Fontanum of Swartz.) It belongs to that division of the Genus, “indivisus lateralibus”, along with Asp. Filix fœminæ, which is considered by M^r Brown ⁴ to be a true Asplenium. Your Allium, “from Como”, is A. sphærocephalum. That of “Hirschsprung, Canton of S^t Gallen” is A. oleraceum: – & that from the Clausenberg, on the verge of perpetual snow, is Allium sch œnoprasum. It is often very alpine & grows by the little lake on the M. Cenis.

I hope you have, this autumn, had much success in your botanical excursions. If you meet with any zealous collector of Italian plants through whom I could obtain those species peculiar to the country, either in purchase, or exchange, I should be glad to be made acquainted with it. I have in contemplation a work in English something on the plan of my friend De Candolle’s Univ. Flora ⁵, which renders it necessary that I should have as extensive an Herbarium as possible to refer to. My friend D^r Taylor ⁶ has been with me lately & we have been working together at the 2^d edⁿ of our Musc. Brit. ⁷ & have prepared characters & descriptions of the Hepaticæ to the Musci foliosi. Raddi ⁸ has published a work on the Ricciæ, Marchantiæ &c, which I want to refer to; but have never seen. Perhaps you would be kind enough to procure me a copy. Raddi’s arrangement of the Jung^æ I have had from the Author. Is there any general Flora of Italy or of any of the Italian states published? If there is, & if they are not costly you (either from their size or coloured plates) you would greatly oblige me by procuring them for me, as I have not a single Flora of any of those countries, except indeed the Flora Pedemontana, ⁹ & Savi Trattato degli Alberi della Toscana. ¹⁰ You will probably meet with Botanists who study the marine Algæ on the shores of the Mediterranean, some parts of which are very rich in Fuci. Is Risso ¹¹ still at Nice? & does he attend yet to Botany? I once wrote to him through the family of the Gurneys who were staying at Nice, but never obtained an answer. In the hope that I may be favoured with a letter from you,

I remain, Dear Sir, Your very sincere & faithful friend
W. J. Hooker.

W. H. F. Talbot Esq^re
(Floreum)¹²
N^o 31. Sackville street
London.