To T. H. Farrer 4 July [1874]1
Down, | Beckenham, Kent.
July 4th
My dear Farrer
I have read with much interest your article.2 It certainly is a very curious case. The older I grow the more I become impressed with the endless & unfathomable fluctuations of structure.— I do not much like C. Emerus; if I understand rightly the bowing of the claw of the vexillum becomes the sole adaptation for getting honey on the outside of the flower.3 I wonder whether other Pap. flowers have an elongated claw. Hooker will be here next Saturday & I will ask him.4
The only case, at all analogous to yours, of which I can think is Marcgravia of S. America, which has its sepals or bracts (I forget which) modified into nectariferous tubes, so placed that the visitors brush against the stamens & stigmas.5 As I have often said, you were a born naturalist.—
Yours most sincerely | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Farrer, Thomas Henry. 1874. Fertilisation of papilionaceous flowers—Coronilla. Nature, 2 July 1874, pp. 169–70.
Summary
Has read THF’s article on Coronilla [see 9400] – "a very curious case"; is troubled by C. emerus.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9531
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Thomas Henry Farrer, 1st baronet and 1st Baron Farrer
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Linnean Society of London (LS Ms 299/23)
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9531,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9531.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 22