Botanical writer and taxonomist (1810-1888) considered to be the most important American botanist of the 19th century. Darwiniana, a collection of his essays, was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessarily mutually exclusive. ALS, three pages on two adjoining sheets, 5 x 8.5, Herbarium of Harvard University letterhead, November 9, 1887. Handwritten letter to English botanist and taxonomist Maxwell T. Masters, in full: "I am desirous to have some information respecting a shrubby climber which is rather widely cultivated in England under the nurseryman's name of Ampelopsis Japonica. It is a Rhus, as any one can see by its climbing…Does any one know, for certain, where it came from? The foliage as I remember does not well agree with any form of R. Toxicodendron, even with the var. Japonica, wild specimens of which can be nearly matched in the United States, but are more like that of the California species. And if either of these it should before this made itself unpleasantly known by its venomous character. I am myself one of those who are sensitive to this poison, and I handled the plant in question with impunity." He adds a short postscript, initialed "A. G." In fine condition.
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