Ɛpsilon

WCP3856

Letter (WCP3856.3775)

[1]1

Old Orchard,

Broadstone,

Wimborne.

March 20th. 1910

Dear Col. Prain2

Thanks for the seeds you have been so good as to send me. I suppose my old friend Mrs. Scott3 told you of my new bit of wild garden, which I am trying to stock with any thing that will grow in it.

The blue lily which I grow in my greenhouse, (now for over 10 years), is the Nymphaea scutifolia from Port Elizabeth, S. Africa. Years ago I had roots of N. gigantea sent me from Sydney, but [2] they soon died after producing one small flower. I was then told, that you had difficulty with them at Kew.

I have raised a lot of nice seedlings of the Telopea truncata, which I shall try planting out in my damp shady ground, though they grow I fear very slowly.

Yours very truly | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

Lt. Col. D. Prain F.R.S.

[3]4

1
Round stamp of "ROYAL GARDENS – KEW 21 MAR. 1910.”
2
Prain, David (1857-1944). Scottish botanist who worked in India at the Calcutta Botanical Garden. Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 1905-1922.
3
Scott (née Klassen) Henderina Victoria (1862-1929). Botanist with a special interest in fossil botany and plant physiology. Wife of Dukinfield Henry Scott.
4
In Prain’s handwriting, "Curator, Return for file after noting contents DP".

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP3856.3775)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Saint-Smith, Lucy [2014-07-02] Transcription checked by Chua, Christine [2026-04-18]

Please cite as “WCP3856,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP3856