WCP3873

Letter (WCP3873.3792)

[1]

Parkstone, Dorset

August 16th 1889

My dear Mr. Baker1

Will you be so good as to inform me if the enclosed leaves belong to the Laurus camphora2 or to some other species. It is proving as a shrub about 5 feet high in a very sheltered position in a garden here, & the plant was obtained in the Riviera where it was thought to be Laurus camphora. I see however that species is described as having [2] the leaves "triple-nerved" (both in London's Encyclop.[edia] & in the new Dict.[ionary] of Gardening3) and it is nowhere referred to as being possibly hardy in this country.

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

1
John Gilbert Baker (13 January 1834 — 16 August 1920), English botanist at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
2
Laurus camphora (known more commonly as Cinnamomum camphora), a large evergreen tree native to east and southeast Asia.
3
Possibly The illustrated dictionary of gardening: a practical and scientific encyclopedia of horticulture for gardeners and botanists, edited by George Nicholson and published in 8 volumes between 1884 and 1889.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP3873.3792)]

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 “WCP3873,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP3873