From J. D. Hooker 7 May 1856
Kew
May 7th/56
My dear Darwin
Nymphæa seeds—we can get you plenty in Autumn if you will remind me.1
Ascenscion plants. I found only 3 or 4 native phænogams, & as many Ferns— I was wrong about the Rubiaceous genus & should have said Hedyotis (a very common trop. genus)— the plants are diag Euphorbia endemic
Hedyotis— do
Aristida do. (grass.
& perhaps one or two Cyperaceæramme
The Ferns are generally not St. Helena Species, but W. Indian— this is unaccountable.
Had the winds transported seeds at all there ought to be many common trop. weeds on the Mt. top—but I believe that every non endemic flowering plant of Ascenscion has been imported by man— all may be traced to the garden & houses, as far as I could detect.2
Scabiosa & Cnestis—the observations no doubt refer to species and not to individuals. I should rebut that the amount of albumen (perisperm) would be constant in the individuals of the species,—at least in some other exalbuminous orders in some few species of which I have found a little albumen (Compositæ & Halorageæ) I do not find the quantity variable3
Bentham did not cultivate the Dandelions (to which his observations refer) he watched the effects of light, shade, seasons &c on the forms (species of Dl.) growing about him at Montpellier.4
Grasses
Seed of Glyceria fluitans is abundantly collected (from the wild plants) & eaten in Holland & Russia & exported also, being the true“Manna Croup”.—5 Zizania was & is eaten abundantly by N. Am Indians, but is not cult.6
Dréges Verseidinity is not a mere catalogue, but elaborate table of distributions hideously closely printed, & diabolically complicated—7 I doubt if you can get it in the Linnean, but I will lend you the Kew copy for a fortnight or month if you would care for it diag in Russia
Primrose—Caucasus only
Oxlip—Caucasus to lat of Moscow.—
Cowslip—Caucasus to lat. of St Petersbugh,
(Compare English distribution)ramme
Forbes map sent to Royal Society.8
Lyallia Kerguelensis— I have lost clue to the American affinity—probably a myth.9
In Herefordshire where both Oxlips & Cowslips grow, Bentham finds plenty of intermediates
Bentham would not have altered his Targioni review10 for ADCs book11 —but I think that ADC. would for Bentham’s review—
Will you let me know when you have spoken to Lord Overton12 about Huxley & Athenæum13 & I will back it up through Lord Os. bosom friend Strzelecki. 14
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Bentham, George. 1855. Historical notes on the introduction of various plants into the agriculture and horticulture of Tuscany: a summary of a work entitled Cenni storici sulla introduzione di varie piante nell’agricultura ed orticultura Toscana. By Dr. Antonio Targioni-Tozzetti. Florence 1850. Journal of the Horticultural Society of London 9: 133–81.
Candolle, Alphonse de. 1855. Géographie botanique raisonnée ou exposition des faits principaux et des lois concernant la distribution géographique des plantes de l’époque actuelle. 2 vols. Paris: Victor Mason. Geneva: J. Kessmann.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
DNB: Dictionary of national biography. Edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. 63 vols. and 2 supplements (6 vols.). London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1912. Dictionary of national biography 1912–90. Edited by H. W. C. Davis et al. 9 vols. London: Oxford University Press. 1927–96.
Drège, Jean François. 1843. Zwei pflanzengeographische Dokumente. With an introduction by Ernst Friedrich Heinrich Meyer. Flora, oder allgemeine botanische Zeitung. Suppl. to n.s. 1: 1-200.
Forbes, Edward. 1856. Map of the distribution of marine life, illustrated chiefly by fishes, molluscs and radiata; showing also the extent & limits of the homoiozoic belts. Pp. 99–102 of vol. 4 of Johnston, Alexander Keith, ed., The physical atlas of natural phenomena. 2d ed. 4 vols. Edinburgh and London.
Hooker, Joseph Dalton. 1853–5. Flora Novæ-Zelandiæ. 2 vols. Pt 2 of The botany of the Antarctic voyage of HM discovery ships Erebus and Terror, in the years 1839–1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. London: Lovell Reeve.
OED: The Oxford English dictionary. Being a corrected re-issue with an introduction, supplement and bibliography of a new English dictionary. Edited by James A. H. Murray, et al. 12 vols. and supplement. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1970. A supplement to the Oxford English dictionary. 4 vols. Edited by R. W. Burchfield. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1972–86. The Oxford English dictionary. 2d edition. 20 vols. Prepared by J. A. Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1989. Oxford English dictionary additional series. 3 vols. Edited by John Simpson et al. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1993–7.
Summary
Non-endemic Ascension Island plants brought by man, not wind-transported.
Bentham has found intermediates between oxlip and cowslip in Herefordshire.
JDH finds quantity of albumen in seeds is not variable within a species.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-1869
- From
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Kew
- Source of text
- DAR 100: 94–5
- Physical description
- inc †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 1869,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-1869.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 6
