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Mr. Masson
April 10 '88
Jan. 2 '89
Cape Good Hope 5th Janry 1788
Sir
I have delivered to Captain Roddam (of the Ravensworth India Ship) a Box containing one hundred sorts of seeds & Bulbs of which is annexed a list. Some weeks past I delivered to Capt. Cox passenger on board a Danish Ship a box containing ninty sorts & a papper parcel containing twenty six, but the Ship is not yet sailed, and probably may both arrive about the same time. The remarkable plants in the annexed list is Aponogeton distachia* a water Plant, but in summer the water is often dryed up and the Roots remain in the ground and next season when the rains begin they put forth very fine fragrant flowers which swime upon the surface of the water. The Cape people make an excellent pickle of them. If the roots arrive in a vegetating state they may be planted in pots in a rich muddy soil not subject to bind, and in summer sunk in the Cistern among other Aquatic Plants but in winter will require to be removed under a Glass frame. The Menyanthes Indica grows in locis similar to M. Nymphoides and will require the same management as Aponogeton. No. 63 is a Species of Amaryllis which I have lately discovered in the Mountains. The Corolla is of the same structure as Amaryllis Samiensis but the umbill is very large and the leaves (consisting of about 4 or 5) is broad lays flat upon the ground in the same manner as Amaryllis Orientalis: it grows in a light mountain soil.
* The roots is also eat by the inhabitants and esteemed nourishing.
[In margin]
Masson, 2nd bills.