Pages 179-181 of John Damper Parks' journal and notes: 'Respecting my being in China' by John Damper Parks

Title

Pages 179-181 of John Damper Parks' journal and notes: 'Respecting my being in China' by John Damper Parks

Record type

Archive

Original Reference

RHS/Col/4/1/19

Date

c.1823-1824

Scope & content

Pages 179-181: 'Respecting my being in China', comprising observations of plants and gardening in China. Undated

This item is bound in the volume comprising journal and notes of John Damper Parks

He arrived at Macao [Macau] on 19 Aug; arriving in China in the autumn made it difficult to judge the beauty of plants, as not many were in flower; the hills and islands must have been 'magnificent' only a few weeks before, judging by the profusion of Melastoma and Myrtus tomentosus [identification unresolved as at Aug 2018] with large numbers of flowers: 'they were literally almost covered with capsules'; these plants grow all around Macao in valleys and on the hills, preferring moist soil, especially that in a sheltered valley with a stream in the Lapa hills; the largest Melastoma, up to 10 or 12 feet high, was on Green Island [Ilha Verde, Macau]; Pinus longifolia [?Pinus palustris or Pinus roxburghii] is common, but usually shrubby; none of the plants appear to dislike sea air, and grow well near the water; the water does not rise very high and is not very salty: 'very different to what the water is about the coast where I have been in England'; Mr Sabine [Joseph Sabine] wished Parks to observe the beauty of the plants, and not to bring back 'any that I was not fully satisfied with in that respect', but with so few in bloom, it was difficult; Mr Reeves [John Reeves, East India Company tea inspector and naturalist in China] thought it advisable to take back any that might have been new; the camellias are mostly 'the old kinds', but there are 37 kinds, which is 'more than is considered to be in England', and their names are different from those in England; as Reeves and Mr Beale [Thomas Beale, naturalist, merchant and opium speculator in Macao] did not know how many or which ones Sabine had alive, they thought Parks should take 'a good many of them'; one of the plants has a different foliage from any in England, apart from a plant Parks went to see at Mr Palmer's [Thomas Palmer, gardener and nurseryman in Bromley, Kent], which he has 'every reason to think the same kind as the one alluded to, named shocq tcha'; the plant grows very rigid and erect, with conspicuous foliage; Parks told this to Captain Rawes [Richard Rawes, captain of HCS Warren Hastings], who was visiting Beale: 'he looked at it and said it was the same, he said Mr P. had flowered it', and he had a written account of it in a letter: 'that is a channel where information can be gained respecting the flower', as Reeves or Beale had never seen it flowering; Rawes said he got it from Canton [Guangzhou, China]; distinguishing between different varieties of Camellia is more difficult in China, as their growth is more restricted and their leaves are narrower; Beale has Camellia sasanqua, an 'intermediate kind', in size between Palmer's Camellia and 'the old sasanqua'; Parks started to graft it, hoping to get a young plant before leaving Macao; he 'budded' some of the plants he wanted to bring back; Beales' fine plant was destroyed in a fire in Canton, as were many other plants

Extent

3 pages

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)