Lenormand, R. Rec. Aug 4, 1847 

 Ans. Aug 30, 1848 



Vire, May 10, 1847 



Sir, 



You must be singularly surprised at not having received any news from me since the 

 letter that you honored me with of July 23 last. It is not by négligence that I was so late in 

 thanking you for your extrême kindness, but because several packages with several 

 Cuscuta and many interesting plants from the south of France, only just arrived in the 

 last few days. I did not waist a single instant to finish my packaging and at this moment I 

 am addressing the crate that contains ail thèse items to be sent to Mr. Jules Gardye in 

 Le Havre, so that he can remit them to you through the intermediary that you mentioned 

 to me, Mr Guddecke Woods and Company, a businessman in New Orléans. I hurry to 

 add to this letter before placing it in the post office, the name of the vessel and of its 

 captain, who will be in charge of the remittance, in order that you may reclaim it with 

 ease. 



Your crate did not arrive until the end of last December, and just as you told me in your 

 last letter of last September, this delay began causing me great anxiety. Thankfully it did 

 not suffer damage during the journey and ail the plants that it enclosed were in the best 

 possible condition. I hurry to tell you of the pleasure that the richness of your generosity 

 caused me.This has been very favourable for me as it has filled a gap that existed in my 

 herbarium. Would it be too much to ask you, dear Sir, to please make me a part of the 

 unusual plants that surround you. I will not repeat what I have already told you on this 

 subject: you know of my désire to provide you with ail the material that you may need. 



I hope that my dispatch will give you at least a part of the pleasure that yours has given 

 me. I conformed with your prescription and only composed phanerogams ( a seed plant 

 or flowering plant), coming from Lycerenee, from the south and from the west of France. 

 There are 669 that I collected for you as representing the samples of this région. Thèse 

 are ail the ones that I could offer you at this moment. You will find ail the Cuscuta that I 

 have. I shared with you ail my samples and I vividly désire that there will be a number of 

 them that will for you be entirely new. Mr. Babington, whom I visited in England, sent me 

 the two species that he named. I also asked our friend Descaine and this is what he 

 gave me as an answer in regards this subject: this summer one of my friends Mr. de 

 Lors, will be in the United States where he will meet with Mr. Agassis who will be with 

 Mr. Engelman. I will therefore remit to him the Cuscuta. I will tell you in passing that I 

 am also busy with this group of plants, in a physiologie and anatomic point of view. The 

 spécifie question will only play a third rôle. My research is already quite advanced and I 

 should have the last word on fertilization, therefore my work is ready to be published. I 

 believe I cleared the manner of insertion, the phenomenon which is related to the 

 absorption and suction of liquids of this parasitic plant. I believe that it will be analogous 

 to what I have published. If you already have written to Mr. Engelmann, remind him of 

 my remittance of the Cuscuta. Tell him, however, that therewill be only be sprigs but 

 that they will have certain value because they are the species already described by Mr. 

 Choisy. You will have been informed that Mr. Descaine has lately been made member of 

 the Institute, replacing Mr. Dutrochet. It is he who is behind Mr. Mirbel, whom, without 

 doubt he will finally succeed. 



