To George Bentham 7 July [1864]1
Down Bromley | Kent.
July 7
Dear Bentham
In the last Nat. Hist Review there is an interesting article which must be by you, in which you say that Trichonema & some other plants present 2 forms.2 I shd be particularly obliged if you cd give me the names of these plants; for then perhaps I cd get seed. For instance, you told me of Oxalis & I wrote to the Cape & have got about 20 species some of which are grandly Dimorphic.3 I know that I exaggerate the interest of whatever I am about, but the Lythrum case seems to me so surprising that I wish to pursue the subject.4 In yr Oxalis letter you say that Ægiphila is dimorphic;5 now I have no idea whether the species are rare or whether it wd cause much trouble to send me a dried flower of the 2 forms of any species. If it does not give much trouble I shd much like to see whether they are really dimorphic like Primula &c or like Thyme which latter is a very different case.6 I believe that you told me that this genus is a Labiate,7 but Lindley makes it one of the Verbenaciæ.8 I know how busy you are but I trust to your kindness to forgive me for troubling you—
Believe me dear Bentham | yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
‘Dimorphic condition in Primula’: On the two forms, or dimorphic condition, in the species of Primula, and on their remarkable sexual relations. By Charles Darwin. [Read 21 November 1861.] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society (Botany) 6 (1862): 77–96. [Collected papers 2: 45–63.]
Lindley, John. 1853. The vegetable kingdom; or, the structure, classification, and uses of plants, illustrated upon the natural system. 3d edition with corrections and additional genera. London: Bradbury & Evans.
‘Three forms of Lythrum salicaria’: On the sexual relations of the three forms of Lythrum salicaria. By Charles Darwin. [Read 16 June 1864.] Journal of the Linnean Society (Botany) 8 (1865): 169–96. [Collected papers 2: 106–31.]
Summary
Asks for names of plants mentioned in an article in Natural History Review ["South European Floras", n.s. 4 (1864): 369–84] so he can get seeds.
Also would like specimens of the two forms of Aegiphila.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4554
- 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. 716)
- Physical description
- LS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4554,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4554.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 12