To Daniel Oliver 22 January [1861]1
Down Bromley Kent
Jan. 22.
My dear Sir
You mentioned to me Kurr on Nectaries2 & in doing this you did me a great service,—that is if helping a man to ride his hobby-horse can be called a “great service”! To watch flowers & insects has been a very old hobby of mine.—3 Some statements in Kurr lead me to ask you, to give me some information on one point, if in your power, & if it can be done without much trouble.— But I have no idea whether you have the plant alive at Kew, or whether dried plants would serve.— Half-opened flowers do not do, for pistil bends subsequently. The point is, that I as yet find it a rule that if the pistil is curved to one side, it curves to the side of the nectary, so that the stigma lies in the gangway to the secreting nectary or to the honey-receptacle.—4 The converse proposition does not hold good; the nectary may be lie one side, without the pistil being curved, but in this case it nevertheless lies in the gangway.— One of the best cases is Saxifraga, in which in 2 or 3 species (names unknown to me) the nectary goes all round & the pistil is straight; but in S. sarmentosa the pistil is curved & the nectary is one sided & lies on side towards which pistil bends.— Now Kurr, as you will see in enclosed paper gives name of some species with one-sided & others with circular nectaries; can you find out at any time for me how the pistils are? Analogous facts occur in several genera of Proteaceæ & Caprifoliaceæ: can you aid me?—
The rule interests me in several ways, & any the most trifling generalisation, such as this, seems worth making out.— I have already got a good many facts.— But you must not waste much time on it.—
Ever yours very truly | C. Darwin
[Enclosure]
Kurr) | (Kew) this till flowering season if necessary p. 32 Grevillea & Hakea nectary on one side. Embothrium Is the pistil bent Lomatia to that side? Stenocarpus
I imagine the other genera have not lop-sided nectary. p. 54 Caprifoliaceæ in most (if I understand) the nectary on one side; but in some as Cornus & Viburnum not on one side— how are pistils?
p 57 In Saxifraga punctata, umbrosa & cuneifolia nectar secreted on one side whereas in S. decipiens, trifurcata, mutata cressifolia & granulata it surrounds the germen. How is pistil in the 3 first species. In S. sarmentosa the nectary is on one side & pistil is bent to the side.— p. 71. In Melianthus major, nectary lateral; how is pistil?
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Kurr, Johann Gottlob von. 1833. Untersuchungen über die Bedeutung der Nektarien in den Blumen: auf eigene Beobachtungen und Versuche gegründet. Stuttgart: Henneschen Buchhandlung.
Summary
Thanks for mentioning J. G. Kurr on nectaries [Untersuchungen über die Bedeutung der Nektarien in den Blumen (1833)]. Requests observations on flowers with curved pistils. Finds they curve toward nectary, thus lying in path of insect.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2661
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Daniel Oliver
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 261.10: 5 (EH 88205989)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp encl
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2661,” accessed on 20 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2661.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 9
