To George Bentham 17 June [1861]1
Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.
June 17th
My dear Sir
You allude to spurless O. pyramidalis. Have you several specs.; and if so could you give me one spike with many well-opened flowers to examine.2 I have for years been attending to insect fertilisation of Orchids, & I shd. very much from several curious reasons like to see what effect no nectary will have produced on the visits of insects. I once tried cutting off the nectaries; but nature’s cutting off would be much better.—3 If, as is very likely, you cannot spare me a spike, could you spare me one or two hardly opened flowers, that I may look & see whether gland is modified—4
Pray excuse me begging this favour & believe me yours very sincerely
C. Darwin
I have just been rereading your paper on Variation in Linn. Journal (where you allude to this Orchis)5 & it does make me so wish you would write an essay on the origin of species.6 It would be so valuable; You have such enlarged & matured views on all such points.—7 If you send me a spike of O. pyramidalis, I shall have to spoil it, for I shall examine every single flower on it.—
Footnotes
Bibliography
Bentham, George. 1858. Handbook of the British flora; a description of the flowering plants and ferns indigenous to, or naturalized in, the British Isles. London: Lovell Reeve.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Jackson, Benjamin Daydon. 1906. George Bentham. London: J. M. Dent. New York: E. P. Dutton.
Orchids: On the various contrivances by which British and foreign orchids are fertilised by insects, and on the good effects of intercrossing. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862.
Origin: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859.
Summary
Asks for specimen of Orchis pyramidalis for his work on insect fertilisation of orchids.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3186
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- George Bentham
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Bentham Correspondence, Vol. 3, Daintree–Dyer, 1830–1884, GEB/1/3: f. 697)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3186,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3186.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 9