Letter from Theodor Hartweg to the secretary of Horticultural Society [George Bentham], 21 Regent Street, London

Title

Letter from Theodor Hartweg to the secretary of Horticultural Society [George Bentham], 21 Regent Street, London

Record type

Archive

Original Reference

RHS/Col/7/1/1/68

Date

20 Jul 1841

Scope & content

Written from Loxa [Loja, Ecuador]

Postmarked ('K 9NO9 1841', 'Forwarded by Polhemus & Mickle [Charles Polhemus and Edward Mickle, American shipping agents in Ecuador], Guayaquil [Ecuador]', 'Forwarded by Wm Nelson, Panama', 'New York [United States of America] Oct 18', '8 NO1841 Liverpool ship'). An opened seal is attached to the letter

Letter No 52

He has made several excursions to the mountains and is 'content' with his success; the nearby main cordillera [mountain] used to be a cinchona forest, 'which, since the quina [cinchona tree, yielding quinine] has become an article of commerce, has been gradually decreasing', and he has not seen a single plant; the locals are worried that it will be entirely extinguished, 'from the bad system of uprooting the plant, which is pursued in beneficiating its rind [bark]'; he found three species of cinchona in the mountains in the east, but not in flower or seed, and 'inferior to the one exported', but he collected a few specimens, leaves and the rind; he is especially pleased with the seeds of another Berberis, probably Berberis glauca, an annual Tropaeolum resembling Tropaeolum minus with smaller and 'more brilliant' flowers, three species of Vaccinium, Fuchsia, Cotoneaster, Viburnum and several Alstroemeria; he bought about 60 bulbs of a scarlet flowering bulb resembling Agapanthus for a sixpence, but could not find out where it had been brought from; epiphytes grow commonly in sheltered locations on the mountains; he found a reddish brown Oncidium, 'the handsomest of its genus that I am acquainted with', and a Maxillaria growing in more exposed locations up to six feet high, its long pendulous leaves resembling those of a palm; he has collected since Paccha about 120 species or 1,400 specimens for his herbarium; Messrs Polhemus & Mickle have not yet said anything about the two boxes

Hartweg's accounts for 13 Jun-13 Jul 1841 comprise 'monthly allowance' $50, 'wages of mozo [servant] (3 weeks)' $7.4, 'a saddle mule' $48, 'keeping of two mules' $7.1 and 'two saddles, bridles, saddlecloths, cruppers' $42

Level

Item

Extent

4 page letter (1 sheet)

Is part of

RHS archive: plant collector papers

Repository

Royal Horticultural Society Lindley Library

Copyright

Royal Horticultural Society

Credit Line

RHS Lindley Collections

Usage terms

Non-commercial use with attribution permitted (CC BY-NC 4.0)