TALBOT1099

Melbury ¹

Aug 1

My dear Henry

I have received your letter ² written half from Tende half from Varese & wish it had been longer. I suppose you have got all mine now. I know some of the plants you mention but never saw Serapias rubra of the size you found it.

Risso’s ³ Animal must be very curious – did you ever see a work by Poli ⁴ of Naples on the Mollusca Shells &c of the Mediterr <sic> it is very dear & not finished or I should have been tempted to buy it.

If you can spare any of the specimens to Emily ⁵ she will be much obliged – her mosses &c are in beautiful order.

Almost all my seeds among which are Russian Siberian Italian Ionian Crimean & others some gathered this spring others full two years ago, are come up after being a fortnight in the ground which I consider great good luck. Among them are Pedicularis which are in general difficult to rear I hope they may be like some tall red & straw coloured ones I saw on M^t Cenis – P. comosa I think. Some of my former importations begin to tell now – I am particularly proud of Camp. lactiflora which scarcely anybody has – Orobus lathyroides of which seed is very rare, is come up Dianthus dentosus – Veronica incana Statice speciosa & Gmelini. Aquilegia viridiflora. Silene canescens – & all the Mimosas & Acacias & Salvias.

I spent a week lately at Highclere where I saw multitudes of plants new to me – Ld. Carnarvon ⁶ has raised many varieties on the ideas of Andrew Knight, from the Crinums Amaryllis Pancratium &c. most of which turn out much hardier than the originals – Crinum scabrocapense of which I have from him 6 plants is the handsomest & with a dozen others, is hardy here – he has also many new hybrids of Rhododendrons & Azaleas planted all over his park with almost every tree & shrub that will grow in England it is a place that would please you very much I think. His collection of bulbs is very fine & he has a great many American oaks. the Tulip trees are the largest I ever saw anywhere.

What do you think of Vicia Narbonensis being an established weed in the garden here – I was astonished to see it – & at Moreton ⁷ Lathyrus alatus is mixed with the Tingitanus. I found in a bog there the other day Utricularia minor – <illegible deletion> smaller & less handsome than U. <illegible deletion> vulgaris which I take to be yours of Nice & which I found once at Petersbg do you know Narthecium ossifragum which grew with it it is one of our most elegant flowers. They talk of a new Campanula discovered lately in Cornwall with leaves like the C. hederacea & stalk & flowers of C. rapunculoides. The Astragalus I found at Sarepta is going to flower I think it will turn out A. subulatus. You remember how rare our Lychnis dioica fl. ros. was in Italy – I find the Fl. T. Caucas. ⁸ calls it boldly Lychnis alba – & says varietas rosea purpurea of which others talk, in regionibus de quibus sermonem Jacimus, nusquam occurrit. ⁹ It is a delightful book whenever the author comes to a difficulty, he says coolly, characteres eruant alii ¹⁰ – & leaves it entirely to you. He seems to have got something very near the Rhinanthus Elephas in the Caucasus – he places our R.C. Galli in a separate genus Alectorolophus. I am sorry I cannot give you a Supplementum I find it was previously engaged to make up the set here. The weather is worse than ever nothing but squalls of driving fogs & rain tho they talk of having had some hot weather in May about the time we left Rome. I hear exactly the same account from Constantinople where the usual May summer has been succeeded by the equally regular May winter – I want to know your plans & those of all your family I stay till the end of Sep^r certain & want to know when I may see you – Charlotte Talbot ¹¹ they say is better – still at Cheltenham – I found O. anthropophosa & militaris I think at Fontainebleau –

Y^r Aff

W T H F S

Do you know Lathyrus tuberosus? I am pretty sure it was that I found once & took it for L. coccineusI enclose a few seeds for you to give away

Henry Talbot Esq^r
Poste restante
Milan
Varese ¹²