CHARLES CURTIS. 



COLLECTOR IN MADAGASCAR, BORNEO, SUMATRA, JAVA, 

 AND THE MOLUCCAS. 



18781884. 



CHARLES CURTIS had been employed some four years at 

 Chelsea when, in 1878, an opportunity occurring for sending 

 a plant-collector to the East, he was selected to undertake 

 the important mission. 



The first trip was to Mauritius and Madagascar, whence he 

 sent the handsome Pitcher, Nepenthes madagascariensis, and 

 various tropical plants. This occupied rather over a year. 

 In 1879 Curtis returned to England, and was sent in 1880 to 

 Malaysia, where he explored Borneo, Sumatra, Java and the 

 Moluccas, and collected many interesting Stove plants, Palms, 

 and Orchids, subsequently sent to Chelsea. The special object 

 of the journey was to collect specimens of Miss North's 

 Pitcher-plant (Nepenthes Northiana), the existence of which 

 had been made known through a drawing by that lady in 

 Borneo, now in the North Gallery at Kew. The precise 

 locality where this plant grew was unknown, but after much 

 search Curtis was successful and introduced it. 



A full description of Nepenthes Northiana is given in this 

 work in the special chapter devoted to Nepenthes: there is 

 no Pitcher more striking. 



On the trip to Borneo Curtis was accompanied by the young 

 gardener, David Burke, who returned with the collection 



85 G 



