9 December 1830
My dear Sir
It has not been in my power to supply many plants of those comprised in your printed list. But I send you a bouquet gathered since the Spring. Among them you will observe some interesting novelties: especially Pyrola. The Carices also are rarely studied: but C. laevigata will be the only novelty to you: Blysmus compressus varies as to the elongation of its bractea, to the extent of 3 inches. Have you remarked Eriophorum pubescens to be later than its congeners ?– Can you spare me wild specimens of Dianthus caryophyllus, or Oenanthe crocata?– Little doubt can exist as to the identity of the Primula noticed by you in the Mag. Nat. Hist. They tell me in the country that the “hose in hose” cowslip is to be produced by reversing the plant in the earth! The umbellate var. of Primula vulgaris has been too general a refuge for the destitute varieties who could not quite make out their claim to P. elatior. Chrysosplenium alternifolium is at least a fortnight earlier than C. oppositifolium: have you observed this variation? Is it not unlikely that an earlier variety should be more developed & larger than its parent? – Have you studied the Aspidia? Have you no varieties of A. filix foemina answering to the characters of A. conspicuum ? – I send you a few more specimens of Cyperus: but a rapacious hand had cleared the too-well-known spot before I hailed it once more this autumn.
Believe me my dear Sir | in much haste |very truly & gratefully yours |Gerard Smith.
P.T.O.[nothing overleaf]
Please cite as “HENSLOW-136,” in Ɛpsilon: The Correspondence of John Stevens Henslow accessed on