i868 1881] BLOOM 4! I 



The upshot of all this is that I want to keep all the plants Letter 738 

 from Kew until the spring or early summer, as it is mere 

 waste of time going on at present. 



To W. Thiselton-Dyer. Letter 739 



Down, July 22nd [1877]? 



Many thanks for seeds of the Maha and information 

 about Averrhoa, which I perceived was sensitive, as A. caram- 

 bola is said to be ; and about Mimosa sensitiva. The log- 

 wood [Hcematoxylon} has interested me much. The wax is 

 very easily removed, especially from the older leaves, and 

 I found after squirting on the leaves with water at 95, all the 

 older leaves became coated, after forty-eight hours, in an 

 astonishing manner with a black Uredo, so that they looked as 

 if sprinkled with soot and water. But not one of the younger 

 leaves was affected. This has set me to work to see whether 

 the " bloom " is not a protection against parasites. As soon as 

 I have ascertained a little more about the case (and generally 

 I am quite wrong at first) I will ask whether I could have 

 a very small plant, which should never be syringed with 

 water above 60, and then I suspect the leaves would not be 

 spotted, as were the older ones on the plant, when it arrived 

 from Kew, but nothing like what they were after my squirting. 



In an old note of yours (which I have just found) you say 

 that you have a sensitive Schrankia : could this be lent me ? 



I have had lent me a young Coral-tree (Erytkrind), which is 

 very sickly, yet shows odd sleep movements. I suppose I could 

 buy one, but Hooker told me first to ask you for anything. 



Lastly, have you any seaside plants with bloom ? I find 

 that drops of sea-water corrode sea-kale if bloom is removed ; 

 also the var. littorum of Triticum repens. (By the way, my 

 plants of the latter, grown in pots here, are now throwing up 

 long flexible green blades, and it is very odd to see, on the 

 same culm, the rigid grey bloom-covered blades and the green 

 flexible ones.) Cabbages, ill-luck to them, do not seem to be 

 hurt by salt water. Hooker formerly told me that Salsola 

 kali, a var. of Salicornia, one species of Suceda, Euphorbia 

 peplis, Lathy rus maritimus, Eryngium maritimum, were all 

 glaucous and seaside plants. It is very improbable that you 

 have any of these or of foreigners with the same attributes. 



God forgive me : I hope that 1 have not bored you greatly. 



