Notebook containing lists of plants collected by John Forbes
Overview of contents:
Page 1: 'John Forbes 1822'
Page 2: Blank
Page 3: Notes
Page 3b: Leaf sealed to the page
Pages 4-5: Blank
Pages 6-33: List of plants from Simon's Bay, Cape of Good Hope and Gordon's Bay
Pages 34-41: List of plants from Algoa Bay
Pages 42-53: List of plants from Delagoa Bay and English River
Pages 54-57: List of plants from St Mary's, Isle of Madagascar
Pages 58-61: Blank
Page 62: Note
Page 63: Blank
Physical description: Bound in soft paper covers marbled in red/brown shell pattern with blue veins. The binding is breaking. Pages are reasonably robust. Fragile. Handle with care. Dimensions: 20.5 (h) x 13 (w) cm
Original foliation on the upper right-hand corner of rectos (1-8). The volume was paginated on the upper right-hand corner of rectos during cataloguing
Summary of contents:
Information in the plant lists is arranged in columns spreading over two pages, with headings for date, number of specimen, class, order, genera, species and remarks. Entries are made chronologically, with consecutive numbers applied to each entry relating to specimens collected. Information in the remarks column includes comments on habitat, usage, height, soil type, flower colour and fragrance
Page 3: Faint notes in pencil
Page 3b: Loose leaf sealed to the page: 'This book contains a list of all the specimens collected at the Cape (part of which were sent home last year, those collected at Algoa and Delagoa Bays in 1822 as well as those collected at the Island of St Mary Madagascar in 1822-1823'
Pages 6-33: List of plants collected from Simon's Bay [South Africa], Cape of Good Hope [South Africa] and Gordon's Bay [South Africa] (specimens 1-348), 10 Jul-10 Sep 1822, with pencil annotations, including Lobelia coronopifolia ('sides of hills, sandy soil'), a species of Adiantum ('moist sandy banks'), 'Rafnia amplexicaulis?' ('loamy soil, an infusion of the leaves said to be good for the gravel, much drank by the colonists & slaves'), a species of Erica ('heathy soil, flower purplish-red') and a species of Oxalis ('gravelly loam, used as sorrel, flower yellow') [here the list includes 343 more plants]
Pages 34-41: List of plants collected in Algoa Bay [South Africa] (specimens 1-101), 16 Sep 1822, including a species of Heliophila ('stony banks, flower yellow'), a species of Monsonia ('stony blanks, flower alba'), a species of Asplenium ('moist banks'), a species of Hermannia ('heathy banks, pale yellow') and a species of Orchideae ('heathy flats, beautiful pink blush, specimens produced on board the Leven on the passage from Algoa to Delagoa Bay') [here the list includes 96 more plants]
Pages 42-53: List of plants collected in Delagoa Bay [Maputo Bay, Mozambique] and English River [Estuario do Espirito Santo, Mozambique] (specimens 1-103), 3 Oct-20 Nov 1822, including a species of Orchideae ('flower pink and white, marshy land'), a species of Asparagus ('flower alba, one foot high, plains'), a species of Crescentia ('native name makaqua, the pulp and husk that immediately encloses the seed is taken off, parched, bruised in a wooden morter & eaten by the natives, the large shell is thrown away. Tree 20 feet, sandy red soil'), a species of Convolvulaceae ('flower lilac, stem creeping, sandy soil, the leaves boiled and eaten by the natives, not very pleasant') and an unnamed plant ('bangee, native name [cannabis]. Grown and used as tobacco by the natives on each side of English River. Smoked through a reed with one end plunged into a bullock's horn filled with water, through which the smoke ascends and is inhaled. It is very powerful, for the natives may be heard smoking at a considerable distance by the coughing they make. They give the preference to tobacco') [here the list includes 98 more plants]
Pages 54-57: List of plants collected at St Mary's, Isle of Madagascar [Nosy Boraha, Madagascar] (specimens 1-42), 24-28 Dec 1822, including Calophyllum calaba ('30 feet, loam, flower very fragrant'), a species of Pteris ('loam'), a species of Justicia ('flower dark red, three feet, loam'), a species of Lycopodium ('loamy soil, banks') and a species of Malvaceae ('about the roots of decaying trees') [here the list includes 37 more plants]
Page 62: Note on 'No 95, Delagoa Bay' ('I found some specimens afterwards where the corola is five-cleft […]')
Extent
1 volume
Is part of
RHS archive: plant collector papers
Repository
Royal Horticultural Society Lindley Library
Copyright
Royal Horticultural Society
Credit Line
RHS Lindley Collections
Usage terms
Non-commercial use with attribution permitted (CC BY-NC 4.0)