To J. D. Hooker 17 December [1860]1
Down Bromley Kent
Dec. 17th
My dear Hooker
Thanks about the Hooked Palm,2 & for your jolly note written by a gentleman lolling in his arm-chair.
I have just been ordering a Photograph of self for a friend; & have ordered one for you & for Heaven-sake oblige me & burn that now hanging up in your room. It makes me look atrociously wicked.—3
When will it do to send me the Apocynum androsæfolium (I enclose address):4 can you find out for me whether it seeds in open air, or had I better keep it in Greenhouse to seed. In the Spring I must get you to look for long pistils & short pistils in the rarer species of Primula & in some allied Genera.— It holds with P. Sinensis You remember all the fuss I made on this subject last Spring:5 well the other day at last I had time to weigh the seeds, & by Jove the Plants of Primrose & Cowslip with short pistils & large-grained pollen are rather more fertile than those with long pistils & small grained pollen. I find that they require the action of insects to set them, & I never will believe that these differences are without some meaning.
Some of my experiments lead me to suspect that the large-grained pollen suits the long pistils & the small-grained pollen suits the short pistils. But I am determined to see, if I cannot make out the mystery next Spring.6
How does your Book on Plants brew in your mind?7 Have you begun it? Farewell.— Since receiving your note, I have read Phillips & such weak, washy stilted stuff I never read—8
Farewell | C. Darwin
Remember me most kindly to Oliver.9 He must be astonished at not having a string of questions, I fear he will get out of practice!
P.S.— | If I can keep pretty well I shall be at Club on Thursday.10 How I wish there was any chance of seeing you there.— If you do come, do let me sit by you.—
Footnotes
Bibliography
Collected papers: The collected papers of Charles Darwin. Edited by Paul H. Barrett. 2 vols. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. 1977.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Phillips, John. 1860. Life on the earth, its origin and succession. Cambridge and London: Macmillan and Co.
Summary
Analysing results of last spring’s Primula experiments, CD infers pollen of short-styled plants "suits" long-styled plants.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3024
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 115: 81
- Physical description
- ALS 5pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3024,” accessed on 1 September 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3024.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 8