To Friedrich Hildebrand 25 June [1864]1
Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.
June 25
Dear Sir
I am much obliged for your letter & for your great kindness in sending me the Orchids. They closely resemble English specimens & the 2 stigmas still appear to me distinct tho’ so close.2 I will with the greatest pleasure send you any papers I may publish.3 But I am now only slowly recovering my strength after a nine month’s illness & have only just recently begun to write. I have seen no one for very many months & therefore had not heard of the death of Prof. Treviranus4
I have written a paper on Lythrum which when printed will I think interest you.5 When you publish on Pulmonaria officinalis, I hope you will send me a copy or inform me where it is published; for this genus interests me much.6 You will be surprized to hear that I have some long-styled seedlings with no other form & these tho’ protected from insects have produced a very few seeds.7 I have made many experiments on Pulmonaria angustifolia with well-marked, but rather complex, results; but perhaps I shall not publish till my experiments are repeated next year.8
I believe I know to what you refer about Salvia & there is not a more curious contrivance, I think, in the vegetable kingdom; it is well worth describing, not that I intend to do so.9
With sincere thanks & respect believe me Dear Sir | yours very faithfully | Charles Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Calendar: A calendar of the correspondence of Charles Darwin, 1821–1882. With supplement. 2d edition. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1994.
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–.
Cross and self fertilisation: The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1876.
‘Fertilization of orchids’: Notes on the fertilization of orchids. By Charles Darwin. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 4th ser. 4 (1869): 141–59. [Collected papers 2: 138–56.]
Forms of flowers: The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1877.
‘Illegitimate offspring of dimorphic and trimorphic plants’: On the character and hybrid-like nature of the offspring from the illegitimate unions of dimorphic and trimorphic plants. By Charles Darwin. [Read 20 February 1868.] Journal of the Linnean Society of London (Botany) 10 (1869): 393–437.
Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.
Movement in plants: The power of movement in plants. By Charles Darwin. Assisted by Francis Darwin. London: John Murray. 1880.
Orchids 2d ed.: The various contrivances by which orchids are fertilised by insects. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition, revised. London: John Murray. 1877.
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.
‘Three forms of Lythrum salicaria’: On the sexual relations of the three forms of Lythrum salicaria. By Charles Darwin. [Read 16 June 1864.] Journal of the Linnean Society (Botany) 8 (1865): 169–96. [Collected papers 2: 106–31.]
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Thanks for orchids.
Recovering from nine months’ illness.
Discusses fertilisation of Pulmonaria.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4545
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Friedrich Hermann Gustav (Friedrich) Hildebrand
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Courtesy of Eilo Hildebrand (photocopy) (Original, previously owned by Klaus Groove, sold by Venator and Hanstein, Cologne (dealers), 16 March 2018.)
- Physical description
- LS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4545,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4545.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 12