From C. C. Babington 26 October 1843
St John’s Coll: Cambridge
Oct. 26. 1843.
Dear Darwin,
I am much pleased to have had an opportunity of examining the Atriplex raised from seeds found at so great a debth by Mr. Kemp.1
The specimen has all the appearance of having been grown upon a very richly manured or muddy soil, but is, as I believe I may say with the utmost confidence, a variety of the A. angustifolia. I have seen plants growing on the mud of salt marshes or close to a dung-hill that exactly resembled it in all points. The usual state of the plant is so different that I cannot wonder at botanists who have not made this unattractive genus their study refering the specimens to a wrong species.
A. hastata is quite a different plant. I should much like to see Mr. Kemp’s specimens refered by Henslow to A. patula. 2
I inclose the specimen and have only to add my earnest hope that your health is now restored to its former state of goodness.
Believe me to be | Most truly yours | Charles C. Babington—
Footnotes
Summary
Identifies Atriplex raised from seeds found by W. Kemp as A. angustifolia.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-708
- From
- Charles Cardale Babington
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- St John’s College, Cambridge
- Source of text
- DAR 50: A28
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 708,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-708.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 2