258 A MANUAL OF THE CONIFERS. 



overland expedition to California, conducted by Colonel Fremont, in 

 1843 or 1844. The Libocedrus was first received in this country; by ^ 

 the Scotch Oregon Association, through their collector, John Jeffrey, 

 without a name, a few months earlier than T. Ldbbi was received 

 by us at our Exeter Nursery, from "William Lobb. The Oregon 

 Committee named Jeffrey's tree T. Craigiana, in compliment to 

 Sir "William Gibson Craig, one of their members, Torrey's designation 

 being at that time unknown to the Committee,* and it was distributed 

 among the members of the Association under that name, but Carriere's 

 name, T. gigantea, became generally current in English gardens. 

 T. Lobbi was not distributed till three or four years later. The 

 late Mr. James Veitch finding a T. gigantea already in cultivation, 

 and desirous of paying a well merited tribute to the exertions of 

 Lobb, selected this beautiful Thuia to perpetuate his name.f That 

 Lobb's name is worthy of being thus held in remembrance will be 

 seen from the following sketch of his life and labours as a collector. 

 "William Lobb was born in the eastern division of Cornwall, in the 

 year 1809. The place is unknown, nor is anything known of his 

 early life. "When a young man, he applied himself to gardening, and 

 obtained a situation as gardener to Mr. Stephen Davey, of Eedruth, 

 whose horticultural establishment appears to have been on a modest 

 scale, but which, under Lobb's management, became thoroughly efficient. 

 After remaining in the service of " Mr. Davey a few years, Lobb 

 entered the nursery of Mr. Veitch, at Exeter, for the purpose of 

 improving his knowledge of plants. Eor a long ' time previous, he 

 had cherished an ardent desire for travel and adventure ; he was 

 quick of observation, ready in resources, and practical in their appli- 

 cation. "While at Eedruth and at Exeter, he had availed himself of 

 every opportunity to remedy the defects of his education ; and his 

 numerous letters to Mr. Veitch, written in the course of his long 

 journeyings in South America and California, abundantly testify to the 

 success of his endeavours in that direction. He had also devoted 

 much of his leisure time to the study of Botany, in which he 

 acquired considerable proficiency. Mr. Veitch, finding him thus 

 qualified, proposed that he should go on a mission to South America, 

 for the purpose of collecting plants in that rich quarter of the globe, 

 an offer which Lobb gladly accepted. He sailed from Plymouth in 

 1840, for Bio Janeiro. On his arrival in Brazil, he first proceeded 

 to the Orgaos Mountains, where he met with several beautiful Orchids 

 at that time extremely rare in English gardens, and other useful 

 plants, some of them quite new, one of the most important of his 



* Mr. A. Murray, in The Garden, vol. ii., p. 542. 



t Aerides Lobbi, Bolbophyllum Lobbi, JEschyiianthus Lobbi, Cryptomeria Lobbi, and 

 Selaginella Lobbi, are all named after hia brother Thomas, by whom they were dis- 

 covered. 



