To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer 21 March [1881]1
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.
March 21
My dear Dyer
I have had a letter from Fritz Müller suggesting a novel & very curious explanation of certain plants producing 2 sets of anthers of different colour.2 This has set me on fire to renew the laborious experiments which I made on this subject, now 20 years ago.—3 Now will you be so kind as to turn in your much worked & much holding head, whether you can think of any plants, especially annuals producing 2 such sets of anthers. I believe that this is the case with Clarkia elegans & I have just written to Thompson for seeds—4 The Lythraceæ must be excluded, as these are heterostyled.—
I have got seeds from Dr King of some Melastomaceæ & will write to Veitch to see if I can get the Melastomaceous genera Monochætum (= Arthrostemma) & Heterocentrum or some such name, on which I before experimented5
Now if you can aid me, I know that you will; but if you cannot, do not write & trouble yourself—
Yours ever very sincerely | Ch. Darwin
Wd Mr Bentham6 be likely to remember plants thus characterised
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Naudin, Charles Victor. 1844–5. Additions à la flore du Brésil méridional. Description de genres nouveaux, et rectification de quelques anciens genres appartenant à la famille des Mélastomacées. Annales des sciences naturelles (botanique) 3d ser. 2 (1844): 140–56; 3 (1845): 169–92; 4 (1845): 48–58.
Summary
Wants plants with two sets of anthers of different colours. Fritz Müller letter [13041a] has made him wish to renew experiments and observations carried out 20 years ago.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-13094
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Turner Thiselton-Dyer
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Darwin: Letters to Thiselton-Dyer, 1873–81: ff. 212–13)
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13094,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13094.xml