Notebook containing lists of plants collected by John Forbes
Overview of contents:
Pages 2-5: 'Mozambique, East Coast of Africa'
Pages 4-5: 'Mafinale or Mahomets Island'
Pages 6-7: 'Raza or Level Island'
Pages 6-11: 'Delagoa Bay'
Pages 12-13: 'Algoa Bay'
Pages 14-86: Blank
Physical description: Bound in soft paper covers marbled in red/brown shell pattern with blue veins. Labelled 'Plants' and 'Duplicate journals still on board the Leven, WFWO [William FitzWilliam Owen, captain of HMS Leven], 1825 Oct'. The binding is intact and reasonably robust. Pages are reasonably robust. Fragile. Handle with care. Dimensions: 31.5 (h) x 20 (w) cm
The volume was paginated on the upper right-hand corner of rectos during cataloguing
Annotated in pencil by Forbes
Summary of contents:
Information in the plant lists is arranged in columns spreading over two pages, sometimes with multiple lists on a page, with headings for date, number of specimen, class, order, genera, species and remarks. Entries are made chronologically, with consecutive numbers applied to each entry relating to specimens collected. Information in the remarks column includes comments on habitat, usage, height, soil type, flower colour and fragrance
Pages 2-5: List of plants collected in Mozambique (specimens 1-37), 1-5 Feb 1823 [for another copy of this list, 1823, see RHS/Col/3/4/20], including a species of Graminae [Gramineae] ('sandy soil'), Chinopodea [Chenopodium] ('cultivated and used as spinach'), a species of Ficus ('50 feet branches, numerous, spreading, forming an agreeable shade, sending out roots: planted and protected by the natives & Portuguese as a screen from the scorching rays of the sun. The blacks hold their market at Mozambique under these trees'), a species of Orchideae ('this elegant plant I found in a small garden in Black Town, Mozambique [Makuti Town, Mozambique], on the end of a dead pole stuck in the ground, the whole branch formed an elegant green head on the end of it, and might have been taken for the actual produce of the decayed stump') and Coffea zanguebariae and two other species of coffee ('these three species or varieties of coffee are cultivated at Mozambique & the coffee they produce is much superior to any grown in any port of India or America, and for which the Portuguese obtain a much higher price. It is more than probable it was originally introduced here, and all the other settlements on this part, by the Arabs from Arabia, who were in possession of nearly the whole of this coast when the Portuguese visited it more than 300 years ago') [here the list includes 32 more plants]
Pages 4-5: List of plants collected in 'Mafinale or Mahomets Island' [Ilha de Mafamede, Mozambique], 12 Feb 1823 (specimens 1-6) [for another copy of this list, 1823, see RHS/Col/3/4/21], including three different plants in the order Monogyna ('flower yellow, stem procumbent, sand'), Casuarina africana [Casuarina equisetifolia] ('trunk 50 feet, straight, sand'), Phyllanthus niruri ('sand') and a plant in the order Frustrania ('flower yellow, sand')
Pages 6-7: List of plants collected in 'Raza or Level Island' [Ilha Epidendro, Mozambique], 14 Feb 1823 (specimens 1-10) [for another copy of this list, 1823, see RHS/Col/3/4/21], including Cassia ('15 feet, flower yellow, elegant, sandy soil'), an unnamed plant ('18 feet, no flower'), Justicia ('sand and decayed leaves'), a species of Graminae [Gramineae] and a species of Cyperacea [Cyperaceae] ('sand') [here the list includes five more plants]
Pages 6-11: List of plants collected in Delagoa Bay [Maputo Bay, Mozambique], 1-7 Mar 1823 (specimens 1-70) [for another copy of this list, 1823, see RHS/Col/3/4/22], including Gloriosa ('sandy soil, flower elegant, orange, scarlet'), an unnamed plant ('mapeelia (native name), this is also an article of food and generally planted as a kind of edging by the side of the footpaths'), an unnamed plant ('18 feet, sandy soil, flower white, very fragrant [annotated in pencil: 'nearly all the specimens of this either purposely thrown over board or blown away'], a species of Erythrina ('six feet, sandy soil, flower scarlet, very showy') and an unnamed tree ('20 to 30 feet, sandy soil. Part of the tree under which the cession of the kingdom of Temby was signed over to his Britannic Majesty & under which King Kapell [Mayeta, king of Tembe] was proclaimed in the presence of Lieutenant Mudge [William Mudge, first lieutenant on HMS Barracouta, later on HMS Leven] & myself. The natives seem to set a high value on this tree, for they would not permit me to gather as many specimens as I wished') [here the list includes 65 more plants]
[Pages 12-13] List of plants collected in Algoa Bay [South Africa], 28 Mar 1823 (specimens 1-18) [for another copy of this list, 1823, see RHS/Col/3/4/23], including Roella squarrosa ('sandy, stony soil, flower pale blue'), Monsonia ovata [Monsonia emarginata] ('sandy, stony soil, flower sulphurous white'), Lobelia crenata [Cyphia crenata] ('sandy, stony soil, flower lilac'), Asparagus ('six feet, sandy, stony soil, flower white') and a species of Justicia ('two feet, sandy, stony soil, flower purple') [here the list includes 13 more plants]
Extent
1 volume
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)