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From W. T. Thiselton-Dyer   [after 20 October 1873?]1

Royal Gardens Kew

The residue left on evaporation of the fluid in Nepenthes consists, if we take the average of these determinations at 31.61% of

Malic & a little citric acid 38.61
Chloride of Potassium 50.42
Soda 6.36
Lime 2.59
Magnesia 2.59
100.57

Voelcker in Ann & Mag. Nat. Hist 1849. IV. p. 1352

CD annotations

1.1 Nepenthes] underl red crayon
2.1 Voelcker … 135] double scored red crayon

Footnotes

1
The date is conjectured from the relationship between this letter and the letter from J. D. Hooker, 20 October 1873.
2
Thiselton-Dyer’s quotation is from Augustus Voelcker in Voelcker 1849. The original text in fact reads, ‘The unburnt residue left on evaporation of the fluid in the ascidia of Nepenthes therefore consists, if we take the average of the loss of the three determinations at 31.61 per cent. and reject the carbonic acid of the ash, of— Organic matter, chiefly Malic acid …’ See letter from J. D. Hooker, 20 October 1873. CD was interested in the chemical composition of the fluid in the pitchers of Nepenthes (the tropical pitcher-plant; see Insectivorous plants, p. 97).

Bibliography

Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.

Voelcker, Augustus. 1849. On the chemical composition of the fluid in the ascidia of Nepenthes. [Read 12 July 1849.] Transactions and Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh 3 (1850): 233–40. [Also published in Annals and Magazine of Natural History 2d ser. 4: 128–36.]

Summary

Composition of the residue left on evaporation of the fluid in Nepenthes.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-9792
From
William Turner Thiselton-Dyer
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
Kew
Source of text
DAR 60.2: 58
Physical description
Amem 1p

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9792,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9792.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 21

letter

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