Hortus Veitchii : a history of the rise and progress of the nurseries of Messrs. James Veitch and sons, together with an account of the botanical collectors and hybridists employed by them and a list of the most remarkable of their introductions / by James H. Veitch.

  • Veitch, James H.
Date:
1906
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Hortus Veitchii : a history of the rise and progress of the nurseries of Messrs. James Veitch and sons, together with an account of the botanical collectors and hybridists employed by them and a list of the most remarkable of their introductions / by James H. Veitch. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    One of the first fruits of the expedition was the successful introduction of Abies bracteata. During the years 1850-1851 consignments were sent home of cones and seeds of Pinus radiata, P. muricata, P. Sabiniana, P. Coulteri and P. tuberculata; and also of many shrubs and flowering plants, quite new to British gardens. In the autumn of 1851 his operations were pushed further north, and cones and seeds collected of the Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), Pinus Lambertiana, P. monticola, and others. In 1852 Lobb made an excursion to the Columbia River and Oregon, where he succeeded in obtaining seeds of Abietia (Pseudotsuga) Douglasii and Abies nobilis, still rare at that time in England, and the beautiful Thuia provisionally named after him. Returning through North California, Lobb collected seeds of Abies grandis, A. magnifica, which he sent home under the name of A. amabilis, believing it to be the A. amabilis of Douglas, A. concolor Lowiana, the first received in England of that fine Fir, Juniperus californica, and of Pinus ponderosa. In 1853 the Sierra Nevada was explored, the traveller tempted by the reports of the discovery of trees of extraordinary magnitude, which he had the good fortune to find, and to secure the first cones and seeds of Sequoia gigantea received in England. Lobb brought these home at the end of the year, and with them two living plants, afterwards planted out at Exeter, where they survived but three or four years, nor was there at any time much hope of their living. Lobb returned to California in the autumn of 1854, and from that time up to the end of 1856 continued to send home consignments of plants and seeds,