To William Wilson   17 April 1827

My dear Sir,

I take the liberty of addressing you on the part of D ^r Hooker Professor of Botany at Glasgow, who would feel much obliged if you could send him some specimens of Woodsia ilvensis & hyperborea, & Anthericum serotinum– He bids me say that he shall be happy to make any return of the same sort that may be in his power– He informs me that he [is] about to publish your Mespilus Cotoneaster (which I sent him) in the forthcoming N ^o. of the Flora Londinensis– & perhaps he would like to have a full account from you of the circumstances & places where it is found– I Have told him that you think of visiting Scotland this summer and said that I should request you to call upon him– So that you may consider yourself as introduced if you should feel disposed to make his acquaintance– I have collated the specimens you sent me as far as Hexandria with my own herbarium, & find a great many among them which I have picked out to add to my own stock– I feel very much gratified by the several observations you have made & [illeg.] which in general appear to me to be very just– I have lately satisfied myself that Linnaeus was correct in making Primula veris, elatior & vulgaris but one species– I find that a Cowslip planted in a shady part of the garden & well watered has in 2 years so far altered its character as to have both compound & single flowered stems, a broad flat corolla & no pinching about the middle of the leaf.– This fact makes me doubtful of the accuracy of some other species. Ex. gr. Viola hirta & odorata, if not mere varieties? I have been preparing 70 large drawings on Elephant folio for my lectures lately which commence in a fortnight– This has kept me pretty much at home, but I contrived to get to the hills yesterday & fill a large vasculum with Anemone pulsatilla which is just now in full perfection–

Yrs. most truly | J S Henslow