From Charles Cardale Babington [c. June 1855]1
⟨ ⟩
⟨ ⟩
My dear Darwin
I have mu⟨ch⟩ ⟨ ⟩ answering your ⟨ ⟩ far as I can, and ⟨ ⟩ noted the points upon the paper that you sent to me. 2
I look upon the Oxlip, Cows⟨lip⟩ and Primrose, as realy distinct species, and that hybrids are formed between any two of them.3 The ‘calycantha’ plants are the result of cultivation like M⟨ ⟩ I think ⟨ ⟩ ‘Hose in hose.
I have be⟨en⟩ ⟨ ⟩ to learn that yo⟨ur⟩ ⟨ ⟩ is much res⟨tored⟩ ⟨ ⟩ now pleased to find that y⟨ou⟩ have finished the Cirripeda
Arnott in his edition of Hooker says that Verbascum Lychnitis has cream-coloured flowers, as also I do, but adds “often yellow in the Isle of Wight.”4
I believe that they vary from ⟨2 lines missing⟩
⟨C.⟩ C. Babington—
CD annotations
Footnotes
- 1. P. acaulis
- 2 P. elatior (calycantha)
- 3 P. elatior (communis)
- 4 P. veris (officinalis)
- 5 P. veris (officinalis) calycantha
- 6 P. calycantha (elatior)
- N.B. in No 3. “communis” sometimes in Bracket, sometimes not.
- No 5. I presume must be some blunder of Printers
- no 6. Can these names have been reversed by Printer
Bibliography
Babington, Charles Cardale. 1851. Manual of British botany, containing the flowering plants and ferns arranged according to the natural orders. 3d edition. London: John van Voorst.
Collected papers: The collected papers of Charles Darwin. Edited by Paul H. Barrett. 2 vols. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. 1977.
Gärtner, Karl Friedrich von. 1849. Versuche und Beobachtungen über die Bastarderzeugung im Pflanzenreich. Mit Hinweisung auf die ähnlichen Erscheinungen im Thierreiche, ganz umgearbeitete und sehr vermehrte Ausgabe der von der Königlich holländischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Stuttgart: E. Schweizerbart.
Natural selection: Charles Darwin’s Natural selection: being the second part of his big species book written from 1856 to 1858. Edited by R. C. Stauffer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1975.
Retzius, Anders Johan. 1779–91. Observationes botanicæ … quibus accedunt J. C. Koenig. 6 pts. Leipzig.
Summary
Reports that he sees the oxlip, cowslip, and primrose as really distinct species; hybrids are formed between any two.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-1584
- From
- Charles Cardale Babington
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- unstated
- Source of text
- DAR 160: 1
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp damaged ††
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 1584,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-1584.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 5