TALBOT9103

Lacock Abbey
June 28

Dear Sir

I thank you for the name of Euonymus nanus ¹ – I send some more of the Monocotyledon, ² but lest it should wither before it reaches you I will annex a few words of description.

Germen acutely trigonal inferior, (w^ch I think is unusual in plants of this sort) – Corolla pale lilac – it is persistent, hardens & turns green. Stamina 6 – filaments very short, quite glabrous – Raceme of flowers terminal, but the shoots of the stem are so [decurlate?] & abbreviated that the flowers appear to be born on scapes & to spring directly from the root.

This plant is not a congener of Arthropodium, judging from Lindleys ³ figure. Botanical Register ⁴ vol. 9 pl. 709 & vol 10. 866 – For that has germen superior filaments remarkably hairy – to say nothing of the diffuse panicle & different in habit! The leaves of my plant are perennial; it is a bushy rock plant – Habitat, Cape of Good Hope?

Yours truly
H. F. Talbot

[on blank side of sheet, in Balfour’s hand:]
1866
H F Talbot