WCP5524

[1]¹

Moulmein

May 6. 1857.

My dear Sir William,

Thank you for M^r Mitten's² note which you were kind enough to enclose in your last letter. — You ask if we have not a very fine Thunbergia in Moulmein? Certainly we have. — It is a common plant here, the jungles, especially those in the neighbourhood of Tavoy are full of it. It flowers in January — indeed throughout the cool season — and, as it[']s a rampant climber & free flowerer, adds much to the beauty of the jungle. — I knew it was an undescribed plant — i.e. that it had not appeared in any published Flora, but, as it had been for some few years introduced into the neighbourhood of Calcutta, I imagined that you must have known all about it, & possessed plants long ago, otherwise I sh[oul]^d certainly have [2] called your attention to it. — If it grows at home, as it does here, no hothouse, except your splendid one, will hold it. — It's a fine thing, — but I have never seen seed. — It's in my garden, running all over a Jack Tree, & in a neighbour's, but neither here nor there does it ripen a seed.— I brought my plant, when young, from the jungle.

It's probable that we have many ^other handsome, nondescript. (How strange that Wallich³ sh[oul]^d not have found this plant.) Now I am on this subject — I may mention that we have in our jungles an elegant Barringtonia — common. — At present I can only describe it from memory — not having made any notes of it. — It grows to the height (at farm I have seen, this it may grow much higher) of 15 or 20 feet, & is a handsome tree, independently of it's flower — as the foliage is striking. — The leaves are about a foot long ^& (if my memory serves me) [one illeg. word crossed out] ^are lanceolate, dark green, smooth, & shining, & clustered about the ends of the branches. In flower it is most elegant — being covered with ^{the inflorescence consisting of} a profusion of pendulous spikes of white [3] flowers 3 or 4 feet long. (I suppose a spike may be pendulous [one illeg. word crossed out] if the flowers are sessile, is it not a spike, whether pendulous or erect?) — Is this a known or unknown plant? I sh[oul]d say do you know anything like this meagre description? — I will, the next time I meet with it, send you, I hope, a more scientific and particular description, if you think the plant's new. — Again, do you know a pendulous Clerodendron (a rather, I think, Volkamenia) flower white — intact [distinct?], and which Roxburgh calls, cross-armed? He does not describe it. — It's also common in the jungles, & an elegant little shrub. — Of this[?], if you have not, I can at any time send seeds, as I have introduced it into my garden, & it grows easily. — Again we have a pretty fragrant Tabernaemontana, worth cultivating, with recurved and twisted petals, thus — [a drawing of the flower appears next to the text] ————

From my limited acquaintance with the Eastern flora, I labour under the disadvantage of not knowing what's described & which not — also from want of anything like a complete Flora of India & the neighbouring countries. —

[4] I will try & botanize a little more systematically, but if in so doing, I sh[oul]^d chance to trouble you with a laboured description of some well known plant, under an idea that it's new. You must kindly pardon me[.] — By hammering away continually, I may happen to knock out a big hot spark or two[.] — By the by — the Order Scitamineae is very strong in these Provinces. I have ^been thinking of working at that order.— Is there any Monograph upon it? or must I content myself with Roxburgh? —

Have you not receive^d my ^{plants of} Platycerium biforme? I do hope they have reached, or will reach you safely? —

I have been much amused by reading in N^o 91 of your Journal of Botany M^r Wallace's account of the Dorian[sic]. It certainly is a most extraordinary fruit, and one, of the merits of which, people never ^can speak in measured terms. — It's either, according as the party fancies it or not, the most exquisite of fruits, or a foetid abomination. — I incline to the latter view. — As you have had a description of this ^fruit from an admirer, it's but fair that you sh[oul]^d hear what those say who like it not.

[5] Even the peach has a sunny & a shady side[.] — The "Audi alteram partem". — M^r Wallace confesses that the smell is "certainly at first disagreeable". I sh[oul]^d pronounce it "The most villainous compound of rankest smell that e're[?] assailed nostrils." — Sufficient to say, that when the wind sets fair (if it can be called a fair wind that waft such an essence) you may smell a boat load coming up the river, which is yet a long way off, woe be to the passengers of the vessel that anchor to leeward! The smell, indeed, attracts the Burmans, as Stapelias are said to attract flies, — but who can wonder at that, when ^{I tell you that} a Burman's greatest delicacy is Nappee, i.e. decayed fish reduced to the state ^consistency of anchovy paste! — And for the taste ^"flavour"! it's indeed "indescribable", & produces quite a "new sensation." — In the "almonds, cream cheese, & sherry" of M^r Wallace, I w[oul]^d substitute garlic, rotten eggs & "a waft" of asafoetida, & there you have [6] a true idea, of that most delectable fruit the Dorian[sic]. — It's indeed most marvellous that anyone ^some sh[oul]^d be able to enjoy (as many do) such ^what to others is unbearable. — There is no half & half opinion on this subject ^fruit — It's either loving or loathing. —

In proof of the strength, assuming every, or whatever you may call it, of the odour that proceeds from it, I may mention a property which belongs to it, & which perhaps, is not generally known. — If you suspend a ripe Dorian [sic] in a small room (say a cabin of a ship,) whose sides one painted, ^& close it ^{up for the space of a day or night} let the paint be ever so dirty, — you may wash all the dirt off next morning, & the paint will be returned to it's original whiteness. — The surface of the walls will be found to be clammy & nothing more is treated than to wipe them. — This, in my opinion, is the best use of the Dorian[sic] — what the effect upon a sleeper in that cabin might [7] be, I cannot say, but sh[oul]^d be sorry to try the experiment. — I may add, in conclusion, that Moulmein is, as nearly as possible the Northern limit of the growth of the Dorian[sic]. — It is only grown here in small quantities, — the best come from Mergui, where they flourish, & are abundant.

Attempts have been made, but unsuccessfully, also, to cultivate the Mangosteen bush of Mergui. — It grows well at the latter place, but only, I observe, in shady & damp places n[ea]^r the sea. —

And, now, hoping I have not bored you with my long & hasty scrawl, I am

My dear Sir William | Very truly <yours>| C.S.P. Parish [signature]

P.S.

We have but one Mail in a fortnight & then but 24 hours to answer all our letters.

CSPP [signature]