Thomas Hilton

[Kate]

Hi, I volunteer at the Natural History Museum and am trying to verify the collection location of a herbarium specimen collected by Thomas Hilton in 1903.

The herbarium label has the location listed as Normandy. The specimen is Epipactus atrorubens which would make Normandy, Surrey a very surprising location.

Does anyone have any records of Epipactus atrorubens in Surrey or on whether Thomas Hilton (1933 - 1912) collected in Normandy Surrey and/or France?

Thanks

[Guest]

Negative results, sorry. From database today:

Search for Epipactis atrorubens gives 42 results basically from north/west of Britain/Ireland.

240 sheets associated with Thomas Hilton, mainly from Sussex, none from Surrey, and none from France.

JE Lousley "Flora of Surrey" does not record Epipactis atrorubens.

BUT: Swiss Orchid Foundation web site has a sheet (search for '51400') 'leg. J. Steffen, France, Haute-Normandie, May 1862'! So it must have been there during Hilton's lifetime.

[qgroom]

This website implies that it still grows in Normandy
http://picasaweb.google.com/101285359839936144326/FleursDeNormandie#5393497424781943138

[John Hewitt]

I have looked in the relevant orchid folders in the Continental herbarium at the SLBI (South London Botanical Institute, Tulse Hill, London SE24), and can find no specimens collected by Hilton at all ; (there are quite large numbers of his specimens from Sussex in our British Isles herbarium). John Hewitt (SLBI)