My dear Sir

I am afraid I made a bad mistake in my letter yesterday, in saying that the leaf belonging to the topmost node in grass-stems is obsolete. On examination I see that the leaf is fully developed; and I hope you will obliterate that passage from my letter.¹

With this, I send one or two lilac twigs, which present a characteristic series of variations from the normal 2-whorl, in illustration of the ‘nodal’ question.²

I could also show you an oak-twig affecting a succession of 3-whorls with long internodes from whorl to whorl; as a specimen of variation from the alternate towards the verticillate arrangement.³

I am, my dear Sir, | Yours very truly | Hubert Airy