From J. D. Hooker [4–]6 August 18641
Royal Gardens Kew
Aug 6/64.
Dear Darwin
I Hanburya climbs immensely like any other Cucurbit: to which order it belongs—it takes any amount of heat.2
II Cobæa seems to be a true Polemoniaceæ according to Bentham.3
III I have written about the Matador tree4
IV. I sent Beer yesterday.5
V I have written to Harvey.6
VI. We have no seed of Boronia.7
VII. Nepenthes climbs famously by the stalk of the pitcher & the pitcher fully develops after the process—it also thickens Our Nepenthes have improved vastly since I first drew attention to them, & they are clambering away by said stalk beautifully.8
VIII The climbing Corydalis, of Sikkim is Dicentra thalictrifolia.9
IX. Vanilla only uses its roots to adhere like other Orchids10
X The Jasminum is J. parviflorum from Timor.11
I am looking out for other Climbers, for you— have you tried any Polygoneæ, they have not tendrils.12 I have heaps of examinations this week. I could not get off that for Army Asst. Surgeon, who have made the Nat. Hist. Exmn. voluntary & propose to pay me whether there are any candidates or no!13 I shall have a whole day clear to map out Nat Ords & shall use it, vigorously & see what I can make of it—14
Ever yrs affec | J D Hooker
XI Apios tuberosa is all but hardy & should flower15
Footnotes
Bibliography
Beer, Joseph Georg. 1863. Beiträge zur Morphologie und Biologie der Familie der Orchideen. Vienna: Carl Gerold’s Sohn.
Bentham, George. 1865b. Handbook of the British flora; a description of the flowering plants and ferns indigenous to, or naturalized in, the British Isles. For the use of beginners and amateurs. 2 vols. London: Lovell Reeve & Co.
‘Climbing plants’: On the movements and habits of climbing plants. By Charles Darwin. [Read 2 February 1865.] Journal of the Linnean Society (Botany) 9 (1867): 1–118.
Dutrochet, René Joachim Henri. 1844. Recherches sur la volubilité des tiges de certains végétaux et sur la cause de ce phénomène. Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l’Académie des Sciences 19: 295–303.
Summary
Replies to CD’s queries on climbing plants.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4585
- From
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Kew
- Source of text
- DAR 157.2: 109
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4585,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4585.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 12