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More Letters of Charles Darwin, Vol. 2
Contents:
Letter 623. To J.D. Hooker. Leith Hill Place, Dorking, Thursday, 15th [May 1862].
You stated at the Linnean Society that different sets of seedling Cinchona (623/1. Cinchona is apparently heterostyled: see "Forms of Flowers," Edition II., page 134.) grew at very different rate, and from my Primula case you attributed it probably to two sorts of pollen. I confess I thought you rash, but I now believe you were quite right. I find the yellow and crimson anthers of the same flower in the Melastomatous Heterocentron roseum have different powers; the yellow producing on the same plant thrice as many seeds as the crimson anthers. I got my neighbour’s most skilful gardener to sow both kinds of seeds, and yesterday he came to me and said it is a most extraordinary thing that though both lots have been treated exactly alike, one lot all remain dwarfs and the other lot are all rising high up. The dwarfs were produced by the pollen of the crimson anthers. In Monochaetum ensiferum the facts are more complex and still more strange; as the age and position of the pistils comes into play, in relation to the two kinds of pollen. These facts seem to me so curious that I do not scruple to ask you to see whether you can lend me any Melastomad just before flowering, with a not very small flower, and which will endure for a short time a greenhouse or sitting-room; when fertilised and watered I could send it to Mr. Turnbull’s to a cool stove to mature seed. I fully believe the case is worth investigation.
P.S.—You will not have time at present to read my orchid book; I never before felt half so doubtful about anything which I published. When you read it, do not fear "punishing" me if I deserve it.
Adios. I am come here to rest, which I much want.
Whenever you have occasion to write, pray tell me whether you have Rhododendron Boothii from Bhootan, with a smallish yellow flower, and pistil bent the wrong way; if so, I would ask Oliver to look for nectary, for it is an abominable error of Nature that must be corrected. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the pistil.
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Chicago: Charles Darwin, "Letter 623. To J.D. Hooker. Leith Hill Place, Dorking, Thursday, 15th [May 1862].," More Letters of Charles Darwin, Vol. 2, ed. Darwin, Francis, Sir, 1848-1925 and Seward, A. C. (Albert Charles), 1863-1941 and trans. Babington, B. G. (Benjamin Guy), 1794-1866 in More Letters of Charles Darwin Original Sources, accessed December 9, 2024, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=9R95ZCJ7MM7PEAT.
MLA: Darwin, Charles. "Letter 623. To J.D. Hooker. Leith Hill Place, Dorking, Thursday, 15th [May 1862]." More Letters of Charles Darwin, Vol. 2, edited by Darwin, Francis, Sir, 1848-1925 and Seward, A. C. (Albert Charles), 1863-1941, and translated by Babington, B. G. (Benjamin Guy), 1794-1866, in More Letters of Charles Darwin, Vol. 2, Original Sources. 9 Dec. 2024. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=9R95ZCJ7MM7PEAT.
Harvard: Darwin, C, 'Letter 623. To J.D. Hooker. Leith Hill Place, Dorking, Thursday, 15th [May 1862].' in More Letters of Charles Darwin, Vol. 2, ed. and trans. . cited in , More Letters of Charles Darwin. Original Sources, retrieved 9 December 2024, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=9R95ZCJ7MM7PEAT.
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