From W. T. Thiselton-Dyer 20 October 1875
Royal Gardens Kew
Octr. 20. 75
Dear Mr Darwin
I have been looking with Prof. Oliver at the specimens of the Saharunpore Hibiscus.1 Assuming that the facts are as they have been stated it is a very striking case indeed. Hibiscus tricuspis is indigenous in the Pacific Islands whence according to Roxburgh it was introduced into India.2 There it produces a sport according to Mr Bell and Dr King which appears to Prof. Oliver and myself identical with the Hibiscus tiliaceus which is indigenous in India.3
Now it is an empirical fact which has come out in the sorting of large collections of plants in the Kew Herbarium that the foliage of plants growing in islands has a tendency to be heteromorphic—that is to say plants with entire leaves are apt to produce divided leaves. This is especially the case with the collections recently made at Rodriguez.4 According to Dr Hooker5 it is also true for New Zealand. It is difficult to see any reason, but the fact seems to rest on a sufficient basis.
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Fryxell, Paul A. 2001. Talipariti (Malvaceae), a segregate from Hibiscus. Contributions from the University of Michigan Herbarium 23: 225–70.
Roxburgh, William. 1832. Flora Indica; or descriptions of Indian plants. 3 vols. Serampore: W. Thacker and Co., Calcutta. Parbury, Allen and Co., London.
Variation 2d ed.: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1875.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
It has been empirically established at Kew that insular plants tend to be heteromorphic, plants with entire leaves tending to produce divided leaves.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-10206
- From
- William Turner Thiselton-Dyer
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Kew
- Source of text
- DAR 47: 205–6
- Physical description
- inc †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10206,” accessed on 24 September 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10206.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 23