From W. E. Darwin [before 18 June 1874]1
Ashton Lodge, | Bassett, Southampton.
Wednesday
My dear Father
I send references of Pinguicula & Utricularia copied out exactly.
I am delighted Frank2 is all right as I knew he would be.
Your affect son | W. E. D.
Mr Broomfield says of U. vulgaris “I have observed that the stems float about in the water unconnected by any root or visible means of communication with the soil, a fact since confirmed by Revd W. H. Coleman, who supposes that the extremities of the branches detach themselves in early spring, & continue increasing in length through the summer, as they are at first not above an inch or two in length & without bladders”3
Pinguicula lusitanica
In spongy bogs & moist heathy places in W. Medina: rare; probably attaining here its eastern limit. Plentiful on piece of boggy ground Called Little Moor, just below Cockleton Farm near W. Cowes July 1839!!! on Colwell heath, sparingly.
Utricularia vulgaris.
W. Medina—in several drains & ditches in Marsh at Freshwater Gate, never seen by me in Flower.— Ditches in marsh at Easton, plentifully FL:Vect:!!!4
U. minor—very rare
E. Medina—abundantly in the meadows immediately below the farm at Langbridge by Newchurch, but flowering very sparingly Mr Jacobs 18425
Footnotes
Bibliography
Bromfield, William Arnold. 1856. Flora Vectensis: being a systematic description of the phænogamous or flowering plants and ferns indigenous to the Isle of Wight. Edited by William Jackson Hooker and Thomas Bell Salter. London: William Pamplin.
Summary
Sends references on Utricularia and Pinguicula.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9201
- From
- William Erasmus Darwin
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Bassett
- Source of text
- DAR 58.1: 137; Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 154)
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp inc?
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9201,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9201.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 22