Transcript
system. I find no specimen from Sikkim of Fl.B.I.[Flora British India] 90, which I referred to I. sulcata, Wall., & which is quite different from the N. W. plants so called in your Herbarium. & from I. gigantea, Edgew[orth]s The plant I mean is a tall stout species, 5--6 ft., with the habit of I. Roylei[?], but taller with much longer petioled leaves, & very spreading cymes of pale speckled flowers & different seeds. It abounds in the Lachen Valley at 10-11000 ft., where
The Camp
Sept[ember] 14/[18]98
My dear Prain
The two consignments of Impatiens announced in your's of Aug[ust] 15 & 22 have both arrived quite safe -- they contain many[? very] excellent specimens that are grievously wanted to supplement the descriptions in the Fl. B. Ind.[Flora of British India], & indeed to correct the positions of some which in the absence of fruit are misplaced in the
system. I find no specimen from Sikkim of Fl.B.I.[Flora British India] 90, which I referred to I. sulcata, Wall., & which is quite different from the N. W. plants so called in your Herbarium. & from I. gigantea, Edgew[orth]s The plant I mean is a tall stout species, 5--6 ft., with the habit of I. Roylei[?], but taller with much longer petioled leaves, & very spreading cymes of pale speckled flowers & different seeds. It abounds in the Lachen Valley at 10-11000 ft., where
I used to eat the seeds when hungry. I was wrong in identifying Edgeworth's I. gigantea with it. I now know from your & Duthrie's Herb.s that I. gigantea is a very different species of the same habit but with a long linear capsule & different spin[?]. I have a good drawing of the Sikkim plant made by myself in Sikkim, & it precisely tallies except in having subulate with a plant which has turned up in my garden, & which I have seen in Cottage Gardens only in several parts of England -- though it is not in the Kew herbarium collection -- & I have no idea how it got into my Garden,
where it is spreading -- I do not bother about this but kindly ask Gammie*1 if he knows the plant. It may be in your next consignment of specimens. Thanks too for sending me the Reports of the Bot[anical] Surveys. I am glad to see that Duthie*2 is going to publish his Punjab Flora soon. King*3 writes in excellent spirits & is to be here soon.
Ever being yours | Jos D Hooker [signature]
1. Presumably James Alexander Gammie (1839 -- 1924), a Kew-trained Scottish gardener and botanist, although his son George Alexander Gammie (1864 -- 1935) was also a professional botanist who worked in India
2. Presumably John Firminger Duthie (1845 -- 1922). English botanist and explorer who was Superintendent of Saharanpur Botanical Gardens from 1875 -- 1903.
3. Sir George King (1840 --1909), superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta 1871 -- 1898 and the first Director of the Botanical Survey of India 1891-1898. In 1898 King was succeeded at the Calcutta Botanical Gardens by Sir David Prain. Previous letters in the correspondence had expressed concern over King’s health.
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