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Darwin Correspondence Project

To Thomas Whitelegge   28 April 1878

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

April 28— 1878

Dear Sir

I sincerely wish that I could give you any information about your specimens; but I have never studied the genus Geum or attended to monstrosities or sudden deviations of structure.1

I may, however, remark that the supression of one sex is not a rare abnormality.2

Wishing you success in your observations, I remain | Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Charles Darwin

Footnotes

1
Geum is a genus of about fifty species in the rose family; it is closely related to Potentilla. Whitelegge had evidently sent specimens of Geum, but no letter from him discussing these has been found.
2
Whitelegge continued to investigate forms of Geum rivale that had only male and hermaphrodite flowers on the same stem (see letter from Thomas Whitelegge, 21 May 1878). Hermann Müller later mentioned Whitelegge’s discovery that Geum rivale was occasionally andromonoecious (H. Müller 1883, p. 229).

Bibliography

Müller, Hermann. 1883a. The fertilisation of flowers. Translated and edited by D’Arcy W. Thompson. London: Macmillan and Co.

Summary

Has not studied Geum, but suppression of one sex is not rare in plants.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-11486
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Thomas Whitelegge
Sent from
Bassett Down letterhead
Source of text
Mitchell Library, Sydney (MLMSS 5833)
Physical description
ALS 1p

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11486,” accessed on 5 June 2025, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11486.xml

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Darwin Correspondence Project
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