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Darwin Correspondence Project

To George Bentham   10 May [1869]1

Down. | Beckenham | Kent. S.E.

May 10th

My dear Mr. Bentham

I have received the 2 papers, reported on them to the best of my ability & returned them to the Soc.y2

And now I want to trouble you on a little point, which I would not do if Hooker3 was at home. You will remember some years ago considerable interest about a strange monstrous form of Begonia frigida.—4 Fritz Müller has found wild (& this seems to me rather remarkable) an analogous monstrous form, as you will see in enclosed letter.5 Will you read it, & be so kind as to determine whether it is worth communicating to Linn. Soc.—6 I am unable to form any opinion on subject— As Hooker wd. probably like to have plants, will you be so good, when next you go to Kew, to hand the attached seeds to Oliver or some one.— They ought to be labelled “Begonia from S. Brazil producing monstrous flower like that of B. frigida: Fritz Muller.”—7

Pray forgive me for asking this favour & believe me | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

If Letter of no use be so kind as to return it.—

Footnotes

The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from George Bentham, 10 May 1869.
See Variation 1: 365–6.
Müller’s letter was read at a meeting of the Linnean Society on 3 June 1869, and appeared in the Journal of the Linnean Society (Botany) 11 (1871): 472–4.
CD refers to Daniel Oliver. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Inwards book, 1869, p. 147, No. 142, records the receipt of ‘Seeds of Begonia spe. semperflorens / with monstrous flowers’ from Müller via CD.

Bibliography

Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.

Summary

Sends a letter (and seeds) from Fritz Müller about a strange monstrous form of Begonia found wild in Brazil. Asks GB whether it is worth communicating to Linnean Society.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-6743
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
George Bentham
Sent from
Down
Source of text
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Bentham Correspondence, Vol. 3, Daintree–Dyer, 1830–1884, GEB/1/3: f. 680)
Physical description
ALS 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6743,” accessed on 16 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6743.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 17

letter