Balthazar Johan Buchwald had been very flattered to receive a letter from Linnaeus dated, 13 September 1748 [this letter has not come down to us], where Linnaeus had asked for a specimen of the Musa from the Royal Garden of Copenhagen to replace the one in Uppsala that had died. Buchwald sends it at once and asks Linnaeus to accept it as a token of Buchwald’s reverence. Buchwald asks Linnaeus to inform him at once if the plant had arrived in good order. It would be easy for Buchwald to send another specimen during the next spring, if this one proved not viable. Buchwald puts some questions to Linnaeus: Does the Bellis produce flowers in Sweden? They flower in Denmark, in great numbers. Is Muscus catharticus, an Icelandic species, found in Sweden, and is it true what Borrichius writes, that it has a purging effect when gathered in spring but not if it is collected later in the year? Buchwald also wants a quantity of it for his own experiments. Buchwald wants Linnaeus’s comments on the work Specimen medico-practico-botanicum, that his father [Johannes de Buchwald] had published and Buchwald himself had translated into German [Johannis de Buchwald Specimen medico-practico-botanicum, oder kurtze und deutliche Erklärung]. Buchwald wants to know more specifically if it is worth adding more plants to it and if its general arrangement in alphabetical order is adequate and practical. Buchwald has read with great pleasure Linnaeus’s report on the red colouring of water, occurring during summer in stagnant water, and Linnaeus’s explanation that the colour was due to animals [Buchwald refers to Linnaeus’s letter to Pehr Elvius, January 1746{L0668}, published in ”Extract af prof. Linnaei bref til Secret. Elvius” ]. Buchwald had seen a similar phenomenon some years earlier. He had also seen an experiment designed by Andreas Gerner with such water kept in a glass container, but the experiment had not been successful. Buchwald does not want to trouble Linnaeus with a longer letter, so he ends with a wish that Linnaeus will enjoy a long and healthy life.