TALBOT713

Melbury ¹
Monday

My dear Henry

I am going to write you a botanical letter so you may read it at leisure or not as you please –

I am buying some of Sowerby’s ² plates on the improved plan which you must remember his shewing us – but only those which are in D^r Pulteney’s ³ catalogue of Dorsetshire plants (& only the prettiest or rarest of them) which I mean to bind up & call Flora Dorsetia or Dorcestriaca whichever is most correct tho’ I believe Flora Durotrix or trigis or trigica would be more so than either – he mentions Tulipa [Pannafera?] [Intillaria?] Utricularia Serapias grandiflora & several others I had no idea of in these parts to which I shall add a few I know of on my own authority as Melittis grandiflora Ranunculus aquatilis Sagittaria M Nymphæoides ⁴ Filipendula – it will be under 200 plates & I shall get title pages or index pages printed – By the bye I am going to Russia ⁵ where they tell me there are nothing but Cryptogamia – pray write & let me know if there is any thing you wish me particularly to look after – & indeed I shall be glad to know what is to be expected in the dreary plains of Russia & Poland – We have also found the Hypericum elodes & pulchrum – Littorella lacustris – I have found the calycinum in the wood but it is doubtful as yet whether wild – Saxifraga hypnoides – I hope you live where the Herb Kit ⁶ is found – it is so pretty we have also the Vicia sylvatica Lathyrus nissolia – herb Paris – Narthecium – Comarum palustre Geum rivale & many others –

Y^r Aff:
W T H F S

1816 Sherborne, Ag^t twenty Seven Ilchester ⁷
W. H. F. Talbot Esq^r
Castleford
Ferrybridge