WCP3827

Letter (WCP3827.3746)

[1]

Parkstone, Dorset

Oct.[ober] 8th. 1889

W.[illiam] T.[urner] Thiselton Dyer F.R.S.1

My dear Sir2

When Sir J. Hooker3 was at Kew he was so good as to send me a few rare plants for my garden, and now that I have moved for my health into a milder locality (as above) and have to commence stocking my garden anew I venture to hope that you may be able (and willing) to favour me in like manner. I was at Kew last week but heard you were [2] away or would have called on you. The plants I should particularly like are either rock or bog plants, such as the rarer4 Primulas5, Androsaces6, Campanula7, Ecutaris[?]8, Cyananthus9, Codonopsis10, Meconopsis11, Cathcartia12, Oxalis enneaphylla13, &c... or tender climbers or shrubs likely to grow here out of doors — such as the fine Abutilon vexillarium14 I saw outside at Kew, Caryopteris mongolica15[,] Ceanothus floribundus16, Abelia floribunda17, the rarer Tropaolums [sic] 18, species of Fuchsia 19 or Calceolaria 20, 21, or any seedling of Cape Heath22, some of which I fancy might do onto of doors here where our native heaths grow in greater [3] luxuriance than I have seen them elsewhere.

These are a mere indication of my desiderata, but almost anything you could send me would be acceptable.

From your excellent letters to "Nature"23 on the "Romanes"24 controversy I am in hopes that you agree with me on that point, although I know that my ideas in some points as to the distribution of plants are considered very wild by most botanists.

Believe me | Yours faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

[4]25

Proceed

Wrote 29.10.89

40 kinds herbaceous[?]26 &

12 " greenhouse

plants sent 24x87.

1
William Turner Thiselton-Dyer, English botanist and director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew after succeeding Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker.
2
Next to this text is a circular stamp on the page reading, "ROYAL GARDEN — KEW" with the date, "10.OCT.89" in the center.
3
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (30 June 1817 — 10 December 1911), English botanist and director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew after succeeding his father, William Jackson Hooker.
4
Starting after "rarer" until before the "&c." is a penciled checkmark in front of every species listed, written in a different hand.
5
Genus Primula of the family Primulaceae.
6
Genus Androsace of the family Primulaceae.
7
Genus Campanula of the family Campanulaceae.
8
Text illegible.
9
Genus Cyananthus of the family Campanulaceae.
10
Genus Codonopsis of the family Campanulaceae.
11
Genus Meconopsis of the family Papaveraceae.
12
Genus Cathcartia of the family Papaveraceae.
13
Oxalis enneaphylla, an alpine flowering plant native to South America.
14
Abutilon vexillarium, a flowering shrub native to South America.
15
Caryopteris mongolica, a flowering shrub.
16
Ceanothus floribundus, a flowering shrub native to North America.
17
Abelia floribunda, a flowering shrub native to Mexico.
18
Genus Trapaeolum of the family Tropaeolaceae.
19
Genus Fuchsia of the family Onagraceae.
20
Genus Calceolaria of the family Calceolariaceae.
21
The text "species of Fuchsia or Calceolaria" is written on the left column.
22
Erica capensis of South Africa.
23
Possibly Nature, an English scientific journal, first published 1869.
24
Refers to the debate between Wallace and George Romanes, a Canadian-English biologist, on Romanes's theory of physiological selection.
25
Text "Proceed" written in blue, below which is the text "Wrote 29.10.89" in a different hand. The rest of the text is below, in the middle of the page, likewise in blue. In the upper left hand corner is a blue stamp of the number "307" under which is the number "312" in pencil. None of the text is written in Wallace's writing.
26
Text that possible reads, "herbaceous" is very faded.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP3827.3746)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Seo, Veri [2013-08-13] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-08-13]

Please cite as “WCP3827,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 29 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP3827