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Darwin Correspondence Project

To J. V. Carus   26 March 1877

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

Mar 26. 1877

My dear Sir,

Many thanks for your never-failing kindness. I am always making mistakes. Perhaps I am deceiving myself, but I think I saw the word cleistogene used by some one else & that made me forget the true term. I found out my error some time ago, for I am now writing on cleistogamic flowers.1

These flowers form the subject of a chapter in a small book which I shall send to the printers in about a months time, & which relates chiefly to heterostyled plants. When this book is published I shall have worked up all my old materials on plants, & as far as I can see you will have a long or final rest from the labour of translation.2

Accept my cordial thanks for your kind expressions towards me, & believe me, | Yours very sincerely | Charles Darwin

P.S. | Give my very kind remembrances to Dr Dohrn; I am very glad to hear that you so much enjoy yr work there3

Bibliography

‘Dimorphic condition in Primula’: On the two forms, or dimorphic condition, in the species of Primula, and on their remarkable sexual relations. By Charles Darwin. [Read 21 November 1861.] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society (Botany) 6 (1862): 77–96. [Collected papers 2: 45–63.]

Forms of flowers: The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1877.

Freeman, Richard Broke. 1977. The works of Charles Darwin: an annotated bibliographical handlist. 2d edition. Folkestone, Kent: William Dawson & Sons. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, Shoe String Press.

‘Illegitimate offspring of dimorphic and trimorphic plants’: On the character and hybrid-like nature of the offspring from the illegitimate unions of dimorphic and trimorphic plants. By Charles Darwin. [Read 20 February 1868.] Journal of the Linnean Society of London (Botany) 10 (1869): 393–437.

‘Specific difference in Primula’: On the specific difference between Primula veris, Brit. Fl. (var. officinalis of Linn.), P. vulgaris, Brit. Fl. (var. acaulis, Linn.), and P. elatior, Jacq.; and on the hybrid nature of the common oxlip. With supplementary remarks on naturally produced hybrids in the genus Verbascum. By Charles Darwin. [Read 19 March 1868.] Journal of the Linnean Society (Botany) 10 (1869): 437–54.

‘Three forms of Lythrum salicaria’: On the sexual relations of the three forms of Lythrum salicaria. By Charles Darwin. [Read 16 June 1864.] Journal of the Linnean Society (Botany) 8 (1865): 169–96. [Collected papers 2: 106–31.]

‘Two forms in species of Linum’: On the existence of two forms, and on their reciprocal sexual relation, in several species of the genus Linum. By Charles Darwin. [Read 5 February 1863.] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society (Botany) 7 (1864): 69–83. [Collected papers 2: 93–105.]

Summary

Had found out his error [use of "cleistogenous" for "cleistogamous" in Cross and self-fertilisation] some timeago.

Is now writing on cleistogamic flowers [for Forms of flowers (1877)], and, with it, will have worked up all his old materials on plants. JVC will then have a rest from his labours of translation.

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10914,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10914.xml

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