174 PETER COLLINSON AND JOHN BARTRAM CH. 



Amongst many plants apparently introduced into 

 Britain by Collinson may be noted several valuable trees ; 

 the hemlock spruce and black larch have been already 

 mentioned, as well as the sugar maple, the American 

 alder and the black birch. The white cedar (Cupressus 

 thyoides) is also one of his, as are the cucumber tree 

 (Magnolia acuminata), and the Ailantus or tree of heaven. 

 Of the heath tribe he brought in, besides the Rhododen- 

 dron, Kalmias and others referred to, three species of 

 Azalea, the first to be cultivated in this country. Of 

 plants of medicinal virtue, hitherto unknown, he im- 

 ported, besides the Hamamelis, Hydrastis Canadensis 

 (Turmeric root), Cassia marilandica (a kind of senna), 

 and the snake-root (Cimicifuga, now called Macrotys 

 racemosa). The Claytonia, the American cowslip or 

 shooting star (Dodecatheori) , paper mulberry (Brous- 

 sonetia), Indian mallow (Sida), resin plant and some 

 fine species of Phlox are others that we owe to Collinson, 

 as we do the curious and handsome ostrich fern 

 (Struthiopteris) * 



When Fothergill settled in London in 1740, he soon 

 met Collinson ; their tastes were similar ; and the 

 example of his elder friend strengthened the bent of 

 FothergiU's mind towards natural history. Collinson 

 kept up a correspondence with Linnaeus during many 

 years. His letters bear token of an intimate friendship ; 



cedars had a diameter of nearly 4 ft. ; the girths are now 12 ft. and 14 ft. 

 4 in., at 2 ft. height ; the spread has increased from 60 to 100 ft. Another 

 cedar has a girth of 15$ ft., and the spread has increased from 70 to 85 ft. ; 

 this tree has lost large branches in snowstorms, but resin still weeps from its 

 trunk. An acacia and a tulip tree may also be mentioned. 



Ridgeway House, Mill Hill, was built by one of the Nicolls about 1637, 

 and occupied at a later date by Michael Russell, whose daughter Mary married 

 Collinson in 1724, the latter succeeding his father-in-law at the house in 1749. 

 Mary Collinson, a lady beloved for her virtues, died of convulsions in 1753, 

 at the age of forty-nine years. The site of the old house, which was pulled 

 down about 1825, is in an enclosed garden to the south of the principal school 

 building, the garden wall bordering the road alone remaining. See works by 

 Norman G. Brett James, Master' at Mill Hill School (to whose courtesy the 

 author is indebted) ; The Millhillian, 1899, p. 192 ; History of Mill Hill 

 School ; and Some History of Mill Hill Village. 



1 More than fifty plants are known as his introductions, and there is some 

 evidence for adding a good many others which have been here included. 

 See [L. W. Dillwyn] Hortus Collinsonianus, 1843, not published. 



