To Journal of Horticulture and Cottage Gardener [17–24 March 1863]1
[Down]
Had Mr. Anderson asked me two days ago for any facts illustrative of his case of unopened flowers of Cattleya crispa and Dendrobium cretaceum producing seed-capsules, I could have given no sort of information;2 nor can I now explain the fact. By an odd coincidence, yesterday I received a very interesting letter from Dr. Hermann Cruger, the Director of the Botanic Garden at Trinidad, who informs me that certain native species, and native species alone, of Cattleya, Epidendrum, and Schomburghkia, “are hardly ever known to open their flowers, but which nearly always set fruit.”3 In answer to Dr. Cruger, I have asked him to look at the seed or send me some, and inform me whether it appears good.4
Will Mr. Anderson have the kindness to send me a few seeds produced by his unopened flowers?5
I further asked Dr. Cruger whether these Orchids in their native haunts never open their flowers.6 I can hardly believe that this can be the case, seeing how manifestly adapted the structure of their organs of fructification is to the action of insects. But it is known that several plants, such as Violets, Campanulas, Oxalis, &c., produce two kinds of flowers: one sort adapted for self-fertilisation, and the other sort for fertilisation by insect agency or other means.7 In some cases the two kinds of flowers differ very little in structure; and it occurs to me as possible that something of this kind may occur with Orchids.
Dr. Cruger further informs me that with certain Orchids, as in those which do not open their flowers, the pollen-masses after a time become pulpy; and though remaining still in situ, emit their pollen-tubes, which reach the stigma, and thus cause fertilisation.8
An excellent observer, Mr. J. Scott, of the Royal Botanic Gardens of Edinburgh, will, I am sure, permit me to state that he has been making similar observations, and has seen the pollen-tubes emitted from the pollen-masses whilst still in their proper positions.9
These facts were all unknown to me when I published my small work on the Fertilisation of Orchids; but I ought, perhaps, to have anticipated their occurrence, for I saw the pollen-tubes emitted from the pollen within the anthers in the Bird’s-nest Orchid, and likewise in monstrous flowers of the Man Orchis.10 This latter fact seems related to Mr. Anderson’s remark, that flowers of an imperfect character, wanting a petal or sepal, had a great tendency to produce seed-capsules.11
These curious observations by Dr. Cruger, Mr. Anderson, and Mr. Scott, convince me that I have in my work underrated the power of tropical Orchids occasionally to produce seed without the aid of insects; but I am not shaken in my belief that their structure is mainly related to insect agency.12 With most British Orchids this conclusion may be looked on as established.
I will only add that since the publication of my work, a number of persons have set seed-capsules with various tropical Orchids.13
Charles Darwin, Down, Bromley, Kent.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Collected papers: The collected papers of Charles Darwin. Edited by Paul H. Barrett. 2 vols. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. 1977.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Desmond, Ray. 1994. Dictionary of British and Irish botanists and horticulturists including plant collectors, flower painters and garden designers. New edition, revised with the assistance of Christine Ellwood. London: Taylor & Francis and the Natural History Museum. Bristol, Pa.: Taylor & Francis.
‘Fertilization of orchids’: Notes on the fertilization of orchids. By Charles Darwin. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 4th ser. 4 (1869): 141–59. [Collected papers 2: 138–56.]
Orchids: On the various contrivances by which British and foreign orchids are fertilised by insects, and on the good effects of intercrossing. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862.
Summary
Reports the observations of Hermann Crüger and John Scott that fruit is set by orchids whose flowers never open and that pollen-tubes are emitted from pollen-masses still in their proper position. These cases convince CD that in Orchids he underestimated the power of tropical orchids to produce seed without insect aid but he is not shaken in his belief that the structure of the flowers is mainly related to insect agency.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4069
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Journal of Horticulture
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Journal of Horticulture and Cottage Gardener n.s. 4 (1863): 237
- Physical description
- Draft inc
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4069,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4069.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 11