Ernest MALINVAUD (Paris 1836-1913), botanist, devoted much t - Lot 45

Lot n° 45
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Ernest MALINVAUD (Paris 1836-1913), botanist, devoted much t - Lot 45
Ernest MALINVAUD (Paris 1836-1913), botanist, devoted much time to the Société Botanique de France, of which he was secretary general and then president; his herbarium and archives are preserved at the Muséum de Paris. 59 autograph letters (and cards) to botanist and mycologist Émile Boudier (1828-1920). 117 pp. in-8 and in-12, numerous headings from the Société Botanique de France. Paris, 1881-1904. Very long correspondence, spanning 25 years, on botany (particularly narcissus) and mycology. There is also frequent mention of the activities of the Société Botanique de France [of which Boudier was also a founder, and its president from 1901] and of writing articles for the Bulletin. "[...] In summary, of the many varieties [of narcissus] described by Haworth, var. N. Poctarum and Stellaris Haw. seem to me to be very close to your two plants. As for their speciosity, if I dare say so, there is only one precise and rigorous way of checking it, and that is to sow seeds of one and the other Narcissus, and to see if the individuals of the new generation will retain the parents' characters. I have my doubts, based on experiments recently carried out on Narcissus of another group (N. Tejette) by Mr. Bornet in Antibes. Sowing Narcissus from seed is a delicate operation, and it's usually only after 4 or 5 years that flowers appear, once the sowing has been successful. Mr. Bornet has observed that individuals obtained from seed often differ from each other and from their parents. Would the same be true of your two forms? It would be interesting to check [...]". Attached is a draft reply from Boudier (1889, 3 pp. in-8), about these narcissi. "The more I examine the two Narcisses that I sent you last Thursday, the more I find differences; for example, today I notice that the perianth divisions in the Cantal species always have their edges jutting out below and not above as in the cultivated species, so it seems to me more and more that it is perhaps wrong to have united these two plants as is generally done. The Cantal species, which Boreau seems to have seen well, is indicated as being the wild state of the same plant as our cultivated white narcissus, but it seems to me that this should be investigated, as the differential characters seem to me to be so numerous. Thus, in the species cultivated everywhere (narc. Paëtarum Haw. sec. Boreau), I see: very broad sepals, truncated but with a medial apicule, with incombing margins, style and short stamens not or only slightly exceeding the bottom of the crown [...]. The wild species from Cantal (Vic-sur-Cère 1879, which I collected in flower in July 1879 during a session of the Botanical Society) and which I have since cultivated in my garden, where it constantly displays the same characteristics, presents me with a more slender, later plant, with less broad leaves, a much more acute bud, becoming ampullaceous and broadly triangular before anthesis [...]".
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