396 FINAL BOTANICAL WORK 



November 19, 1904 : 



I am having an awful time over the varieties of I. Balsa- 

 mina, which are legion and strangely diverse would you like 

 me to collate yours with Kew Herbarium? ... I have 

 no faith in a single character of any one form ; most of these 

 being taken from single specimens. As, however, I indicate 

 the locality of each form, future collectors may be led to 

 investigate them in their homes. 



I have written asking Talbot for the loan of his Balsams 

 (of the Deccan), a suicidal proceeding, for if he has collected 

 I. Balsamina with care, his specimens will be sure to upset 

 my beloved varieties. 



His prophecy as to the result of examining a whole new 

 collection was duly fulfilled. After dissecting every one of 

 the sixty and more species from the Madras Herbarium, he 

 writes : ' In every case I have to add to or subtract from the 

 previous description.' 



Then arrived another little collection made by Inayat 

 Khan in the Himalayas, including apparently three new species . 

 Patient analysis showed these to be but one, which he proposed 

 to name after Mr. Duthie himself ; but with the usual perverse- 

 ness of the genus, it did not fit into his sectional divisions. 



And being tripped up by what seemed to be an entirely 

 new species from the Peninsula, but which turned out to be 

 a variety he had already described, he exclaims to Gamble : 

 ' The fact is that Balsams are " deceitful above all plants and 

 desperately wicked," and I am no match for them.' 



I am quite in despair [he tells Mr. Duthie in January 1905] 

 and should like to show you my attempts. The Eastern 

 and Western Himal. species require a different treatment 

 and the Malabar ones a totally different kind. 



In short, ' the attempt to name Balsams by comparison 

 of herbarium specimens is folly, except in a very few local 

 cases.' (March 24, 1905.) 



The Epitome of Indian Balsams, finished in 1905, was 

 printed in the Records of the Botanical Survey of India in 

 1906. It was of only temporary finality. He continued 



