THE BOOK OF THE ROYAL 



this collector's operations, esjjecially tlie blockade of the Mexican 

 coast by a French squadron, and the consequent detention of 

 the chests forwarded by him at Tampico, until their contents 

 had perished, yet upon the whole the country was a very great 

 gainer. It is to the first of these expeditions that we owe, 

 among; other things, the whole race of Achimenes now so 

 commonly cultivated, several Lupines, some fine Berberries, 

 Habrothamni, and Oestrums, many beautiful species of Fuchsia, 

 and various Coniferous trees, among others Pinus Gordoniana, 

 P. Hartwegii, P. Loudoniana, P. macrophyUa, P. Orizabffi, P. 

 Wincesteriana, together with a multitude of Orchidaceous plants 

 of distinguished brUliancy. The expedition to California was far 

 less advantageous ; nevertheless, oven from it proceeded some 

 species of considerable interest, among which iEscuIus californica, 

 Limnanthes alba and rosea, many beautiful kinds of Ceanothus, 

 Calocantlms occidentalis, Zatischneria californica, some Lepto- 

 siphons, and several valuable Coniferous trees, such as Pinus 

 Benthamiana, P. Devoniana, &c., may be more particularly 

 mentioned. 



Although undertaken subsequent to Mr. Knight's death, it 

 was to the same spirit and the same epoch that we owe the first 

 scientific expedition into the interior of China. At the close of 

 the war with that country in 1842, when it was for the first 

 time thrown open to other nations, the Council, believing- that 

 an extensive field of botanical and horticultural treasures lay 

 unexplored and unknown in the northern parts of the empire, 

 resolved to send out Mr. Fortune, then the superintendent of the 

 hothouse department in the garden at Cliiswick, on a mission 

 to explore them. 



