To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer 24 October [1878]1
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.
Oct 24th
My dear Dyer
I do not know whether you have returned, but when you do & when you have got through the first rush of business, will you kindly enquire whether you have seeds or plants of the enclosed 5 names.—2
Pfeffer says that they all move considerably their leaves at night, but I cannot make out from what he says whether the leaves rise so as to stand vertically or almost vertically, at night, in which case they would be said to sleep.3
I want to know about the distribution of sleepers in the general system. Perhaps you could get Mr Lynch to look at any of them which you may possess at night—4 I shd. however like seeds of any if you chance to have such seeds.—
I hope that you & Mrs. Dyer have returned or will return refreshed & invigorated by your tour.5
I have nothing to say about myself, except that we have almost finished the experimental part of our work, & must now begin modelling an enormous pile of notes into some sort of fashion, & this will be an awful job.6
Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin
[Enclosure]
Siegesbeckia flexuosa
Chenopodium album
Amaranthus reflexus
Wigandia urens7
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Movement in plants: The power of movement in plants. By Charles Darwin. Assisted by Francis Darwin. London: John Murray. 1880.
Pfeffer, Wilhelm. 1875. Die periodische Bewegungen der Blattorgane. Leipzig: Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann.
Summary
Wants some plants for sleep-movement observations. Has almost finished experimental work and must start sorting his notes.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-11727
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Turner Thiselton-Dyer
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Thiselton-Dyer, W. T., Letters from Charles Darwin 1873–81: 150–2)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11727,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11727.xml