To Daniel Oliver 19 October [1874]1
Down, | Beckenham, Kent.
Oct. 19th.
My dear Professor Oliver
I send today by railway, the plants to Kew, & I trust that they may arrive all safe.2 Roridula has interested me extremely, as I believe it shews the primordial state of most of the group. If either you or Hooker know whether it has a confined range at the C. of Good Hope, I shd very much like to hear. I presume that Byblis is confined to Swan River.3
It is remarkable what confined ranges most of the species, excepting those of Drosera, have; though, if the European & Indian Aldrovanda is the same, this also must be excepted. Drosera Heterophylla, besides the odd shape of its leaf, has very curious cells, quite unlike those which I have seen in the rest of the family.4
I have not yet attacked any of the Utric. which you so kindly sent me.5
yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin
If you cd. spare me a leaf of the Bengal Aldrovanda, I could at once see whether it differs from the German.— A plant to which the leaf is so important I shd. think wd. be more to present differences than in the flower.—6
Footnotes
Bibliography
Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.
Summary
Returns insectivorous plants to Kew, with questions about their range. Most species seem to have remarkably confined ranges.
Asks for a Bengal Aldrovanda leaf so that he can see whether it differs from the German species.
Roridula interested him extremely.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9686
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Daniel Oliver
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- John Hay Library, Brown University (Albert E. Lownes Manuscript Collection, MS.84.2)
- Physical description
- LS(A) 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9686,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9686.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 22