13 Great Stuart Street 1
Edinburgh
Decr 24th
My Dear Sir
Will you give us the pleasure of your Company at dinner on Thursday 3d of January 2 at seven oclock?
I send with this note a small plant for your Botanic Garden.
It is the one you investigated 3 last year and which I afterwards took to Kew, where it was examined by Professor Oliver, 4 Mr Bentham 5 and others. The plant is undescribed. – I propose for it the provisional name of Vellozia elegans by which it may be designated for the present in your collection – We propose to have it figured next time it blooms, in the Botanical Magazine. 6
It is a native of South Africa – As no other species of Vellozia is found in Africa, & this one diverges in important characters from the Brazilian species described and figured by Martius, 7 it is at present an open question whether it is not a new genus. At any rate it is very pretty when in full flower, and quite different in aspect from anything in the Gardens. 8
Yours truly
H. F. Talbot
Prof. Balfour
[in Balfour’s hand:] 1866
H. Fox Talbot
Please cite as “TALBOT9168,” in Ɛpsilon: accessed on