I often thought that Elwes underrated his own powers as a scientific botanist, and I believe that this was chiefly due to his astonishing ability of recognising at a glance animals or plants he had at any time observed carefully. Rapidity of discrimination is often the chief clement of success in collecting birds or insects, and a skilled field naturalist easily becomes accustomed to relying upon his powers of recognition at sight and may neglect comparison of the characters of a specimen with technical scientific descriptions, which is the practice of those working in museums with dead material.
Elwes possessed the keen eye of a born naturalist, and his field work trained him to observe detail to a wonderful degree of perfection. This, and a singularly retentive memory, gave him a power of recognising plants that often astonished me. It was always a great pleasure to go round my garden with him and to hear him greet an old friend among my plants. I recall his asking “Where did you get Zygadenus Fremontii? I haven’t seen it for twenty years,” and a minute later saying: “Hey, hey! What have we here? This is something I don’t know, I have never seen this before." Very little that was good escaped his practised eye, but he used to say, "Don’t let me miss anything; please show me any plant I do not notice."
He preferred true species to garden-raised varieties, and the garden and glass-houses at Colesborne contained a vast collection of rare species of the genera in which he was specially interested. Among these I recall Pæonia, Crinum, Yucca, Fritillaria, Arisæma, Kniphofia, Lilium, Crocus, and Iris in the open; Hippcastrum, Cyrtanthus, Mesembryanthemum, Mammillaria, Cotyledon, Crassula, Haworthia, Pancratium, Sanseviera, and a good collection of orchids under glass.
He was also interested in hybridising the species of certain genera, and was especially successful with Ercmurus.
He crossed Vallot a purpurea and Cyrtanthus sanguineus both ways.
He obtained a fine collection of species and hybrids of Nerine from Max Leichtlin of Baden-Baden in 1890. Ehves continued raising seedlings, and the Colesborne Nerines are recognised as the finest in existence.
He possessed a good library of botanical books, and was justly proud of possessing the unique copy of the Botanical Magazine in which the second and third series were printed on large paper, and the plates usually folded were bound without a crease. Only three copies were issued in this state, and one only was continued to the encl of the third series* This copy belonged to Sir William Hooker and was continued for his son, Sir Joseph, after whose death Elwes purchased it from Sir William Thiselton-Dyer. His interest in the Botanical Magazine never ceased, as the following quota¬ tion will show. It is from the interesting obituary notice written by Mr. F.R.S. Balfour; it first appeared in the Gardener's Chronicle on December 2, 1922, and was republished with a few additions in the Kew Bulletin for that same year.
“Mr. Elwes’s intimate association with the Botanical Magazine began in 1875 and continued to the last days of his life. It is not unfitting to note here that largely through his generosity and by his active interest this venerable publica¬ tion, after a short lapse, has now been launched again on what we all hope will
