Letter from J.D. Hooker [Joseph Dalton Hooker] to George Maw

Information

Scope & content: Written from Kew. Manuscript

The Salvia certainly came with the ticket, but he could not keep suspecting and sent over to Fitch [Walter Hood Fitch, botanical artist], who had himself copied it on the back of the drawing; it is from Tangier Bay [Morocco], confirming that it is nothing but a variation of Salvia bicolor; he dined with Dr Leared [Arthur Leared] who just returned from Marocco city [Marrakesh] where he and Mr Broom, the merchant who was wounded a year ago at Mogador [Essaouira, Morocco], were poisoned by Ben Daoud [unidentified] and narrowly escaped with their lives; the Draba is new; Owen’s [Richard Owen, superintendent of the natural history department of the British Museum] conduct is disgraceful, and they are as jealous of Kew as possible

Credit Line: Courtesy of David Symonds Hooker / The Descendants of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker / RHS Lindley Collections