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badly[?] off for [scientific symbol for male] flower heads & all else. It would be a grand thing to send all together in one small keg of spirits or a large jar -- the Pandara fruits dry well after spirits. The plant you once sent as Hexameria Disticha[?] is not this plant but Podochilus Microphyllus, Lindl. Blume's P. Similis is near it. Hoping soon to see the results of your visit to [two words illeg] Believe me Very sincerely yours | J.D. Hooker[signature]
The Camp
Sunningdale
March 24 [18]90
Dear Mr Ridley1,
I have to thank you for your's of Feb[ruary] 22 & the previous one: I am quite sure that all will go on harmoniously with Keir.
I cannot find a published or mss. [manuscript] Bulb[ophyllum].
Sarcochilus capillipes I am much puzzled with. It has no trace of a foot to the column & the habit & lip are so peculiar -- that I must make a new genus[?] of it. Is there a Ridleya -- it is a tiny[?] little thing to make a N[ew] G[enus] of[?] You did not send me any leaves -- only a drawing which shows the habit of a Phalanopsis -- the depiction of it has been very difficult -- the pollinia are [one word illeg] & sepals or the rather large flared column & anther quite membranous.2
I supported your application for instruments[?] at the R[oyal] G[eographical] S[ociety][?] Council & hope much for the results of your expedition[?]. Rain will I fear be your enemy -- in all such exped[ition]s the danger is of trying to do too much & your plan of camping in or near the top is excellent.
In collecting peppers pray look hard for both sexes. I am very glad that you are attending to Musas & Pandanaceae[?], Palaua[?]& Julianias[?] but you must be staggered with the number of big[?] things around you & the difficulty of filing satisfactory specimens.
I have heard nothing more from Dr Balfour3 about your paper on the Bulb. impregnation-- I shall have to bring the new little Bulb[illeg]
with the supplemented orchids at the end of the order[?].
I hope that the Sec[retar]y ship of the Straits As[iatic] Soc[iety] will not give you too much to do -- it is a fine institute from all I have heard of it, with an excellent library & museum -- I suppose your herbarium is at the gardens.
Part XVI is off my hands at last with all its imperfections, & these apply more to Straits plants than to any others of British India.
Pray send diagrams[?] of the Pandara & Musas when you can if only to draw attention to them in the flora. Balfour could probably name the Pandara. We have a superb collection of the fruits of the [one word illeg] in the museum, but are woefully[?]
badly[?] off for [scientific symbol for male] flower heads & all else. It would be a grand thing to send all together in one small keg of spirits or a large jar -- the Pandara fruits dry well after spirits. The plant you once sent as Hexameria Disticha[?] is not this plant but Podochilus Microphyllus, Lindl. Blume's P. Similis is near it. Hoping soon to see the results of your visit to [two words illeg] Believe me Very sincerely yours | J.D. Hooker[signature]
1. Henry Nicholas Ridley (1855 -- 1956). English botanist, geologist and naturalist who spent much of his life in Singapore, where he was the first Scientific Director in charge of botanical gardens. In this role he introduced rubber as a commercial product to Malaysia & improved the method of tapping. He explored widely around Penang & Malacca. He retired to England in 1911 and worked on a five volume flora of the Malay Peninsula, published from 1922 to 1925. In 1930 he published a seminal work on plant dispersal: The Dispersal of Plants Throughout the World.
2. In the bottom right hand corner of the first page in close proximity to the words 'flared' and 'membranous', there is a small sketch of what appears to be a seed head.
3. Isaac Bayley Balfour (1853 -- 1922). Scottish botanist, son of botanist John Hutton Balfour. He was Regius Professor of Botany at the University of Glasgow from 1879 to 1885, Sherardian Professor of Botany at the University of Edinburgh from 1888 to 1922.
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