TALBOT9136

Athenæum ¹
Tuesday Ev^g
Sep^t 25

My Dear Constance

I took my plant to Kew ² today, and it was examined with much interest by Professor Oliver ³ and M^r Bentham ⁴ who is President of the Linnæan Society ad an old friend of mine. It was pronounced to be a new plant no plant being described in the books which accords with its characters.

They were inclined to consider the plant as being a new species of the genus Vellozia, but a difficulty arose namely that no species of Vellozia is a native of the Cape of Good Hope so that for the present the question was left undecided. It is proposed that the plant shall be figured in the Botanical Magazine, ⁵ the drawing to be made when it is next in good flower its present flowers being weak and few. I saw at Kew the Victoria regia in flower, its leaves are like floating round tables. There was likewise the Sacred Bean of India in seed – It is of the nature of water lilies – They had a fine plant of the Bryonopsis erythrocarpa covered with berries. We have a small plant of it in the zinc. Their plant is trained up a tall bamboo, which is a good plan, economizing space.

Your aff^te
Henry