OLD ESSEX GARDENERS AND THEIR GARDENS. 89
"herbarium, which, as far as my memory would serve, I believed
"to be the same species. Many a time, in the course of the last
"half year, have I hunted for this specimen, but in vain, my
"thoughts having been so much taken up with daily business of
"the University, my publick and private lectures, and numerous
"matters besides.
"During the Christmas holidays, however, having found
"leisure to turn over all my dried plants, I luckily met with the
"specimen in question, which came from the East Indies, in
very good condition. The flower is perfectly single, and by
"immersing it in hot water, I could clearly ascertain every part
"of its structure, so as to draw up, without any uncertainty, the
"following character of your genus."
There was some further bickering about the name, and finally
Ellis's suggestion of Gardenia was agreed to by Linnaeus, who
would, however, have preferred "Warneria after the person who
"has first cultivated it in Europe; Gardenia being applied to
"some genus first described by Dr. Garden." Ellis wrote to
Garden about Gardenia the following year " It will surprize people
"when they know that a nurseryman, James Gordon, in less
"than three years, has made £500 from four cuttings of a plant.
"Everybody is in love with it, and you may depend on having
"a plant of it from me; for as it is a double flower, besides being
"the native of a warm climate, it produces no seeds here.
"I have bought two more coloured prints of it16, which shall
"be sent by the ships in June; for I fear these stragglers may be
"taken by the enemy. It has given great jealousy to our
"botanists here, that I have preferred you to them; but I laugh
"at them, and know I am right; for, without flattery, you have
"done more service, and I have obliged more people through
"your means, than they have in their power to do."
The James Gordon17 mentioned had a seed business in
Fenchurch Street and a garden between Mile End and Bromley—
unfortunately for our present purpose, just over the county
border. But he comes well into the story for he was, for a time,
16 Ehret had painted it; his original sketch is in the Department of Botany.
17 The Loblolly Bay was named Gordonia by Ellis after James Gordon. The generic name
was proposed originally by Garden, but he had in mind his " old master, Doctor James Gordon,
"at Aberdeen, a very ingenious and skilful physician and botanist, who first initiated me into
"these studies and tinctured my mind very early with a relish for them."