[Incomplete, pages numbered 5-22] Left Tali [Dali] on 14th [November] to go to Lichiang [Lijiang] and from there up to the top of the great Yangtse bend to work the base of the glacier. Collected many seeds in Lichiang valley and describes an especially curious plant which may be new. On 28th November set out for Chung Tien via A Hsi. Gives detailed description of Tibetan house and wonders how the inhabitants of the plateau survive in winter; as there is nothing to take them outside they ‘simply sit and snooze and smoke themselves over their pine and yak dung fires.’ Describes shooting his first wolf and a shooting competition with a local Tibetan chief; intensity of cold; arrival at Chong Ku. Promises to send Clem a set of half a dozen Chinese tea cups. Plants mentioned: Allium (p.9); Azalea (pp.8-9, 15); Bamboo (p.17); Corn (p.10); Gentian (pp.7, 9, 15); Geranium (p.15); Lily (p.12); Lychnis (p.9); Paeonia (p.9); Pine (pp.6, 8, 10, 17); Primula (p.15); Rhododendron (pp.7-9, 15); Saxifrage (pp.9-10, 15); Senecio (p.10)

This is a small series of items relating to the section of Rhododendron giganteum - now named Rhododendron protistum found and collected by George Forrest and his collectors in Yunnan, China on the 15th March 1931. The series consists of the specimen itself, and two of its museum labels.
For more information: (right click, open link in new tab) https://stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/14186

Letter from George Forrest, China Inland Mission, Talifu [Dali], to Isaac Bayley Balfour, 'Regius Keeper', Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, dated 5 January 1905.
Forrest describes sending Balfour 213 specimens via Cook and Son, Rangoon. He returned to Dali 10 days ago from second trip north. He is unable to go further than Chung Tien as the Atunze [Atuntze, now Tehtsin] pass is blocked by snow. Has taken notes on his journey from Chung Tien down the plateau to the Yangtze, to be incorporated into Mr Litton’s report to the Government. Asks again for names of three saxifrage specimens sent with his letter of 7 September. Leaves for Yunnanfu on Tuesday 10 [January] with Consul General Wilkinson to travel south to Mengtzu. On return, Forrest will go straight to Tsekou [Cigu] and work north and east from there for rest of the year. Mr Bulley wishes him to go into Lolo country which he will do if he can get two reliable Tibetans to act as guide and servant. Intends to work across from Atunze into an area blank on the map, intersected by rivers Yangtze, Li-tang and Ya-lung. ‘The great difficulty of course is the keeping clear of the lamasseries. This is Lolo country and it would …be no use taking Chinese …The hatred between them is intense. I would only be able to manage with Tibetans and these again are entirely under the thumb of the lamas.’
Plants referenced: Rhododendron; Saxifrage
The letter is fire damaged with some loss of text.

Letter from George Forrest, Tsekou [Cigu], SE Tibet, to Isaac Bayley Balfour, M.D., 'Regius Keeper', Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, dated 27 May 1905.
Forrest writes to say he left Tali [Dali] on 11 April; he provides details of an arduous journey to Tsekou, having his first row with the Chinese in Chien Chuan and an uncomfortable evening conversing with the Yamen. There are difficulties with muleteers at Wei Hsi pass and the loss of a mule which fell 90 or 100 feet, breaking its back and smashing its load of two cases; Forrest was rescued by Lissoos who helped him continue his journey to Wei Hsi Ting. Forrest meets with Pere Bourdonnec of the Catholic Tibetan Mission who warned him that rebel lamas were only three days north of Tsekou. Against his advice Forrest continued to Tsekou, arriving on 28 [April] to news of ‘over 10,000 lamas on the warpath. Of these, 5,000 are at Batang where they have murdered the Chinese amban and a great number of Chinese soldiers. Also the French missionary stationed there, Pere Mussot by name. They destroyed the mission and killed a great number of native Christians, driving the remainder into the hills, where many have perished of exposure and hunger.’ Forrest describes raids on Atuntze, Yarragong and Yerkolo, the death of Pere Soulie and anticipates a battle between the lamas and Chinese troops. Lack of food is the main difficulty in Tsekou; there is a description of the rations, including a curious dish of stewed ferns using the species of common bracken Pteris aquilina:
'One curious dish they have here, and one of which I was very dubious at first, but which now I have got to like immensely is 'stewed ferns'. These are cooked in water with the addition of a little fat. The species used is the common bracken 'Pteris aquilina' which grows abundantly on all the mountains here above a certain elevation. The part used is the young stem and frond just as they are expanding when they are 3-6 inches high. These are boiled for some time in water to extract the bitter principle of the plant and then cooked as I have described. Another dish, but one which I have not yet partaken of, but which I am informed is equally good is composed of the male inflorescence of 'Pinus sylvestris' prepared in a similar manner.'
Forrest is making slow progress with his collecting owing to bad weather, but almost 300 species have already been collected; there are descriptions of forests of rhododendrons and a fine example of Magnolia campbellii.
Plants referenced: Magnolia; Pine; Pteris aquilina; Rhododendron
Letter has been scorched with some loss. Letter has been damaged, particularly page 1, apparently by a plant specimen enclosed in the envelope with the letter.

[COVER] "Pelargonium sect. Eumorpha"
[INSIDE FRONT COVER] "Mary Gibby Department of Botany British Museum (Natural History) Cromwell Road London SW7 5BD"

[LOOSE DOCUMENT FOUND INSIDE FRONT COVER, MAP OF S.AFRICA; REPRINT FOUND INSIDE BACKCOVER: "A New Basic Chromosome number in Pelargonium (Geraniaceae) by Mary Gibby and Julie Westfold

Index [TRANSCRIBED FROM PAGE 0]
A
[PAGE] 1. NOMENCALTURAL NOTES
[PAGE] 11. P x hortorum Bailey
[PAGE] 31. Chromosome counts
[PAGE] 51. karyotypes - P. multibracteatum 2n=18

B
[PAGE] 61. Karyotypes - P. alchemilloides 2n=34
[PAGE] 71. Karyotypes - P. alchemilloides W.Cape 2n=16
[PAGE] 81. Karyotypes - P. quinquelobatum 2n=18
[PAGE] 91. Kayrotypes - "P. alchemilloides" 2n=18 GCM 1014
[PAGE] 101. Kayotypes - P. multibracteatum S+H 2n=36

C
[PAGE] 201. Hybridization notes
[PAGE] 206. Typification of P. alchemilloides s.l.

[NOTE] The karyotypes contain photographs of chromosomes and individually cut out chromosomes taped to the sheet along side drawings

12 printed pages (A4) of a list of Chelsea Physic Garden [CPG] plants, presented as a table.

Field Names:

• CPG Number
• species
• note
• [Spe]cimen number
• Original accessi[on]
• location

12 printed pages (A4) of a list of Chelsea Physic Garden [CPG] plants, presented as a table.

Field Names:

• species
• CPG number

3 pages. Handwritten.

Chromosome counts from STEU specimens from Mary Gibby and Julie Westfold in 1983-1985.

Pelargoinum chromosome counts 3 tables, 1 per sheet with the titles:

• "Section Hoarea"
• "Section Polyactium"
• "Section Peristera"

Each table lists the species, the STEU Project Number [collection number] and the chromosome count. 'Section Perstera' table also has Chelsea Physic Garden accession numbers.

Number of counts per table

• Section Hoarea: 30
• Section Polyactium: 1
• Section Peristera: 4

2 pages. Handwritten notes on notebook paper.

[Page 1] Hoarea notes for the table 'Section Hoarea'.
[Page 2] 'Section Campytia' notes, lists a single specimen - no matching table

5 pages, typed.

Appears to be from a larger document, page numbers 27-31. Printed and annotated in red and blue ink. Consists of 2 documents:

• "Table 1. Chromosome numbers of the plants investigated" [4 pages]
• "Table 2. Analysis of meiosis in hybrids involving P. alchemilloides (III = Trivalents, II = bivalents, I = univalents." [1 page]

Table 1 lists species, collection number, & chromosome count
Table 2 lists: species (hybrid), collection number, Diakinesis, and number of cells. There are only 2 specimens listed: STEU 2718 & CPG 5602a