Hooker, Sir Joseph Dalton
JHC783
The Camp, Sunningdale, Berkshire, United Kingdom
HNR/2/1/3 f.118
Ridley, Henry Nicholas
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
29-7-1906
© Descendants of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
Letters to H. N. Ridley
The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
English
Original MS
3 page letter over 1 folio
 
Transcript

I have now about 50 species of Malayan balsams, from Sumatra to the Philippines, including New Guinea. What have you? I have described all but a few fully. The majority are of course new species but the[?] specimens in not a few cases are almost hopelessly[?] bad. If If you care to send me your Achipeligan[?] species I will name them for you & return them.
V[er]y sinc[erel]y y[ou]r[s] | Jos D Hooker [signature] Perhaps I might send you a choice[?] of the Malaysan species, like the [word illeg] of the Indies[?][.] I am now finishing the full descriptions &c of the [word illeg] for a paper to be offered to Linn[aean] S[ociety][?].

Page 1


July 29 1906
The Camp,
Sunningdale*1 Dear Mr Ridley*2 A thousand thanks for the branched[?] [word illeg] of I[mpatiens] mirabilis just received. I know of only one other instance of an Impatiens with this character --I[mpatiens] maculata of Travancore of which I have only a single specimen with (or with mirabilis) a single branch low down [?] the peduncle.
I note your observation about the flowering -- & shall enter it in my description.
Am I never to have fruit & seeds of this most extraordinary plant? I do want them badly[?] for my description.*3 I have over & over again written

Page 2

in vain to Curtis*4 for specimens of the Penang Impatiens of which I have not one in flower! -- There are I know several species in Penang & as the rock is granite I suspect[?] that all will [word illeg crossed out] differ from the Peninsular. Mr Fox*5 the present superintendent of Bot[anical] Dep[artmen]t Penang is now in England & has kindly promised to collect the Balsam[?] for me. He has kindly written to Penang for the loan of the specimens in the Herbarium there. You may be glad to know that the B[alsam][?] latifolia, L[innaeus][?] of the [2 words illeg] is not the plant of Linnaeus, but is [3 words illeg] a native of Java & Sumatra. We raised it at Kew from seeds sent from Penang where it is probably cultivated.

Page 3

I have now about 50 species of Malayan balsams, from Sumatra to the Philippines, including New Guinea. What have you? I have described all but a few fully. The majority are of course new species but the[?] specimens in not a few cases are almost hopelessly[?] bad. If If you care to send me your Achipeligan[?] species I will name them for you & return them.
V[er]y sinc[erel]y y[ou]r[s] | Jos D Hooker [signature] Perhaps I might send you a choice[?] of the Malaysan species, like the [word illeg] of the Indies[?][.] I am now finishing the full descriptions &c of the [word illeg] for a paper to be offered to Linn[aean] S[ociety][?].

Page 4

enormously difficult, for the 4 lobes*6
get twisted together distractingly I can remember only one Indian species with this arrangement, viz *7

Page 5

*8
Impatiens Malay Peninsula
Leaves opposite or whorled wing petals free spur long slender, sepals ovate lanceolate [3 crossed out words illeg.]
Stem [word illeg], leaves very narrowly linear I[mpatiens] Griffithii*9, Hk Jos
Stem branched, leaves ovate I[mpatiens] Curtisii*10 Hk J
Leaves alternate or very rarely opposite, *11 wing petals connate by thin distal lobes

Flowers racemosa, wing petals free lip galeate, spur stout incurved I[mpatiens] mirabilis Hk J
Flowers on axilliary pedicles wing petals connate by thin distal lobes*11

Stem & serrulate leaves very succulent, spur stout bifid I[mpatiens] Scortechinii*12 HJX*13
Stem rather slender, leaves membranous
Leaves crenate, basal lobes of wings acute, spur stout incurved entire, seed 1/15 I[mpatiens] Ridleyi*14 HJ
Leaves subentire, sepals longer than the limb of the lip, basal lobe of wings rounded, lip scaphiform with 2 parallel mamilliform spurs, seeds 1/7 ∴ I[mpateins] macrosepala HJ
X "on limestone rocks near G Malacca[?], Perak, King's*15 collection, [3 words illeg] Curtis

ENDNOTES


1. The Camp was the residence Joseph Hooker had built in Sunningdale, Berkshire. Completed in 1882 he lived there full time, with his second wife Hyacinth and their family, after retiring from RBG Kew in 1885.
2. 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.
3. This paragraph is emphasised by Hooker with two parallel lines in the left hand margin of the page.
4. Charles Curtis (1853--1928). English botanist and plant hunter in the East Indies, who became the first superintendent of Penang Botanic Gardens in c1885. On some of his plant hunting trips he was accompanied by H N Ridley. 5. Walter Fox (1858--1934). English botanist who joined Kew in 1876. In 1879 he was posted to the Singapore gardens and became Superintendent of the Botanic Garden and Forests of Penang in December 1903
6. A drawing follows showing the four lobes and is labelled 'distal lobes' and 'basal lobes'. 7. The page is cut off here and has been copied covering another page, obscuring the first line of text on the underneath page, the text of which continues 'of the name of your locality for L[uisa][?] Curtisii?' 8. The transcription of this botanical key has been laid out in a table, in the original manuscript letter it was written on lined paper.
9. Named after William Griffith (1810--1845). Botanist, superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta, 1842--1844. Griffith's manuscripts and what survived of his plant collections stored in the cellars of the East India Company in London were rescued by Joseph Hooker in 1858.
10. Named after Charles Curtis (1853--1928). English botanist and plant hunter in the East Indies, who became the first superintendent of Penang Botanic Gardens in c1885. On some of his plant hunting trips he was accompanied by H N Ridley (see note 7).
11. The deleted words appear in this position on the page but with a caret to show they should appear two lines above.
12. Named after Rev Father Benedetto Scortechini (1845--1886). Italian priest and naturalist who travelled in Australia and India. He became the Government Botanist at Perak, NW Malasia.
13. This superscript X is in the original and refers to a note written along the left hand margin of the page, the transcription of which appears below the table in this document.
14. Named after Henry Nicholas Ridley.
15. Named after Sir George King (1840--1909). Superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta and Cinchona cultivation in Bengal, 1871--1898. First Director of the Botanical Survey of India, 1890--1898. King was awarded the Linnean Medal in 1901. He was recognized for his work in the cultivation of cinchona and for setting up a system for the inexpensive distribution of quinine throughout India through the postal system.
�This is actually not part of the letter –it has been scanned accidentally from a previous page

Powered by Aetopia