Hooker, Sir Joseph Dalton
JHC977
The Camp, Sunningdale, Berkshire, United Kingdom
BUR/1/1 f.95
Burkill, Isaac Henry
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
27-2-1908
© Descendants of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
Letters to I. H. Burkill
The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
English
Original MS
4 page letter over 1 folio
 
Transcript

very interesting letters of Jan. 5 & (and) Jan. 30th. I had not heard so much of Nepal botanically since the death of my old friend Wallich*2 in 1854. I shall be curious to know how many of your 500 species were found by his collectors some 88 years ago.
I note your instructions regarding the sending specimens of each Balsam to Calcutta, which I shall attend to at once.
Thanks for kind enquiries -- I am pretty well but shut up indoors & (and) troubled with eczema. The Chinese Balsams occupy all my time -- I am publishing the Indo--Chinese few in the "Icones[?]

Page 1


Fe[bruar]y 27 1908
THE CAMP,
SUNNINGDALE. Dear Mr Burkill*1 The three Balsams arrived two days ago & (and) I have been all days examining them, for I have found flowers on all & (and) fruit on two.
They are totally distinct from any Himalayan species hitherto discovered. One of them, densely clothed[?] throughout stem & (and) branches with spreading, lanceolate coriaceous leaves, so closely that you can hardly get a pin between their bases, is quite unlike any known to me. These & (and) other endemic species suggest the probability of Nepal being a separate Balsam Region.
Thank you very much for your

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very interesting letters of Jan. 5 & (and) Jan. 30th. I had not heard so much of Nepal botanically since the death of my old friend Wallich*2 in 1854. I shall be curious to know how many of your 500 species were found by his collectors some 88 years ago.
I note your instructions regarding the sending specimens of each Balsam to Calcutta, which I shall attend to at once.
Thanks for kind enquiries -- I am pretty well but shut up indoors & (and) troubled with eczema. The Chinese Balsams occupy all my time -- I am publishing the Indo--Chinese few in the "Icones[?]

Page 3

*3Impatiens
29982 I. aureola 1 sp
29852 I. Pershadiama, 1 sp
29689 I. densifolia 1 sp.
Entered 24/3/08.
Plantarum" & (and) shall the Paris Herb.[arium] lot in the [3 words illeg.] Museum".
The Kew lot, which much exceed the Paris, & (and) the species mostly different, must find a resting place somewhere -- altogether I have full descriptions of 140 Chinese species (exclusive of the Indo--Chinese which are quite different.)
Ever sincerely y[our]s | Jos. D. Hooker [signature] Barber's paper*4 on the root parasitism of Santalum & (and)c is a very fine one.
The most remarkable new work is

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Bower's Origins of terrestrial plants (or whatever he calls it). I began it vigorously, but the volume is too heavy for the hand & (and) I have sent it the binder to cut in two -- when I shall devour it to the end.
Do take care of your health & (and) keep travelling -- Indoor work in India is destructive of mind & (and) body especially the eternal Reporting.

ENDNOTES


1. Issac Henry Burkill (1870-1965), English botanist who primarily worked in India and Singapore with a focus on economic botany. Was employed as Herbarium Assistant and later Principle Herbarium Assistant at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew between 1897-1901.
2. Nathaniel Wallich (1786--1854). Danish surgeon who in 1815 was made superintendent of the Calcutta Botanical Garden. When he returned to England in 1847, he had done immense work as a botanical explorer, and brought back vast collections, the final distribution of which was completed by Hooker.
3. The wording from here to "24/3/08" is written at the top of page 3 but is separated from the text below it by a horizontal line. The wording "Entered 24/3/08" is written vertically up the left-hand margin of page 3.
4. Studies in root-parasitism. The haustorium of Santalum album., C A Barber, Memoir of Department of Agriculture in India. Botanical series. I, 1907. Please note that work on this transcript is ongoing. Users are advised to study electronic image(s) of this document where possible. If users identify any errors in the transcript, please contact archives@kew.org.

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