A passion for moss
On this day, 19th April, in 1808, Dawson Turner wrote to Ellen Hutchins. His letter includes a piece of moss – Splachnum ampullaceum – which he calls “a most beautiful plant”.
Ellen had written in March that she was “busy preserving mosses, at which I have been employed almost night and day since I got your book.” Dawson Turner had sent Ellen his own copy of his book on Irish mosses, Muscologia Hibernica, published in 1804, with the originals of the drawings bound in it. Ellen continued “I must again thank you for it & all the pleasure it has given me. I am quite delighted with the new arrangement. What a variety of new reflections the examination of objects so minute, so various, & so beautifully formed brings to one’s mind.”
Dawson Turner is delighted to find that Ellen shares his passion for mosses. “You can scarcely conceive how pleased I am at you having directed your attentions to & being delighted with, this tribe. Can any thing be more wonderful or are the traces of the hand of the Deity anywhere more visible? I shall never forget the emotions I felt on the first day that I examined & determined to study mosses.”
The letter has some other lovely passages, including his description of his roles and responsibilities. Spring 1808 is early on in the correspondence, which began with a short thank you note accompanying a box of plants in April 1807. This is the fourth letter that Dawson Turner had written to Ellen (excluding the first thank you note) and Ellen had written five to him.
He asked Ellen if a “new and most beautiful species” of liverwort that she has sent to him can be named Jungermannia Hutchinsiae. He offered help – “Pray do not scruple to make me as useful as it is in my power to be to you, & write to me as often as you have any doubts to solve or anything to communicate.” And it is clear that he was enjoying contact with his new botanical correspondent: “You do not know how much pleasure your letters give me”.
Read the whole of Dawson Turner’s letter of 19th April 1808 HERE and to get a sense of the correspondence between them, one that Ellen wrote to him on 15th April 1808 is HERE
The Ellen Hutchins Festival team also thinks that mosses are magnificent and is aware of their importance to the planet. There are some great mossy materials on the website and this year’s Festival – 17th to 25th August 2024 will feature a moss workshop and a moss walk led by Joanne Denyer. Plans are being put in place for a major Magnificent Moss project with the first stages happening this year. Small but significant – mosses need to be given their place in our world.
A free online guide to Bryophytes (mosses and liverworts) is available HERE
A lovely range of free materials on Moss Hunting and mossy fun activities
for families is HERE
The beginnings of the programme for this year’s Festival are HERE
