40 
JOURNAL OF A BOTANICAL MISSION TO THE 
WEST INDIES AND NEW GRENADA; 
BY WILLIAM PURDIE, 
Collector for the Royal Gardens of Kew; im letters addressed to the Editor. 
(Continued from ‘Zondon Journal of Botany,’ vol.iv. p. 27.) 
The mission of Mr. Purdie bemg mainly connected with Horticulture and 
the introduction of new and rare plants to our Gardens, it has been thought 
advisable to insert the information concerning it, in the ‘Companion to the 
Botanical Magazine’, rather than continue it in the ‘London Journal of 
Botany.’ The Mission has now terminated by Mr. Purdie having been ap- 
pointed, by the Secretary to the Colonies, to the Curatorship of the Botanic 
Garden of Trinidad, vacant through the death of Mr. Lockhart. I here gladly 
record my testimony to the excellent conduct of Mr. Purdie during the whole 
of his arduous undertaking of more than three years duration, to the number of 
new and rare and beautiful plants he has been the means of introducing into 
our Gardens, and I offer my warmest thanks to the many individuals, whose 
names will be here recorded, who have rendered him important services, in 
furthering the object of his journey. 
Royal Gardens, Kew, Nov. Ist, 1846. 
Kingston, Jamaica, April 22nd. 1844. 
Since I last wrote, I have visited the Lace Bark District, in 
order to procure perfect specimens of the tree, accompanied by 
your friend Dr. Bromfield, F.L.S., but am sorry to say my success 
has been very small; for, to my surprise, I found the trees in 
precisely the same state as they were five months previously. 
There was no appearance of recent growth; but several gentle- 
men, residing in different parts of the island, have promised to 
procure flowering specimens and ‘to send them to Dr. Macfadyen, 
so that I hope the season will not pass without their being ob- 
tained. The season of inflorescence is the end of May, and it 
continues not later than June. The first time I saw these trees 
was in September, when I discovered a dry raceme, but neither 
blossom nor fruit, beyond a few capsules, which I detected by 
searching among the fallen leaves on the ground, and which I 
now send home. A single capsule, still growing on the tree, 
enabled me to indentify those which I picked up; else, in the 
dense woods of Jamaica, I might easily have made a mistake 
among the numerous seeds, of various kinds, which strew the 
soil, under, perhaps, one and the same tree. . 
In my journey through St. Ann’s, I gathered some seeds and 
plants which were new to me, and which are ready to go home by 
next Packet. Two small boxes are now despatched, their contents 
