From G. C. Oxenden 8 April 1872
Broome Park | near Canterbury
April 8. 1872
Dear Sir
Being a mere stupid Plant hunter, I hardly take courage to write to you— The Works you have so kindly given me, have been largely in my hands this Winter—& often have I felt both enlightened & bewildered—1
—One result of actual Observation has been this—that all such Wild Plants as dwell on the Confines of Civilization, undergo lowering & debasing process, as to their natural average standard of height & vigour—
—In the case of Wild Orchids— —Any Lady Botanist, & any Planthunting Gentleman—with the accursed Trowel in his hand, will tell you that the Average stature of Bee, & Spider, Orchis, is Six or2
—I myself, on close-bitten, sheep haunted Hills, find them so utterly dwarfed & bullied, as to be almost trailing plants—& very pretty they are—
But on such portions of our own Forest Ground as no Hoof ever invades “Arachnites” becomes a very tall upstanding Plant, with large & splendid Flowers3—and even Bee Orchis often exceeds two feet in height— I think I sent your One, a year or two since, 26 inches high—4
A day or two ago, by chance, I found the stem of One which grew close to my own Door almost, which last year was over 2 feet high—and I now send it to you—
—A great deal of my own Early life was spent at Downton Castle with that cleverest of V. Physiologists, Thomas Andrew Knight, so long President of the Horticultl.—5
—One day he said to me, “Mr Oxenden, you are fond of Gardens, & you are young— —If you like to experimentalize, & will begin with the White Currant I will promise you that in twenty years you shall have them as large as Sweetwater Grapes, & as sweet—6
—This past atrocious Winter Spring has nowise injured or affected the Wild Orchids— —On the, Contrary, I have never seen them so healthy or so abundant— Of the truly wonderful & lovely “yellow Bee” I know of over 50 Plants—& only hope they may evade their Ovine Persecutors—7
Your’s very faithfully & obliged | G. Chichester Oxenden
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Hutchings, Michael J. 2010. The population biology of the early spider orchid Ophrys sphegodes Mill. III. Demography over three decades. Journal of Ecology 98: 867–78.
Miller, Philip. 1768. The gardeners dictionary: containing the best and newest methods of cultivating and improving the kitchen, fruit, flower garden, and nursery; as also for performing the practical parts of agriculture: including the management of vineyards, with the methods of making and preserving wine … together with directions for propagating and improving, from real practice and experience, all sorts of timber trees. 8th edition. London: the author.
ODNB: Oxford dictionary of national biography: from the earliest times to the year 2000. (Revised edition.) Edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. 60 vols. and index. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2004.
Orchids: On the various contrivances by which British and foreign orchids are fertilised by insects, and on the good effects of intercrossing. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862.
Summary
Wild plants that live at the edges of civilisation, e.g., forest flowers growing on grazed land, are always reduced in size.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-8281
- From
- George Chichester Oxenden
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Broome, Canterbury
- Source of text
- DAR 173: 69
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8281,” accessed on
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 20