To Friedrich Hildebrand 15 May 1873
Down, | Beckenham, Kent.
May 15 1873
Dear Sir
I want to beg a favour of you— I could myself find some of the information which I require, in your several papers; but it wd take me much time to search for the facts, & perhaps I might not find all.
I remember that with Primula, & I think Corydalis, & perhaps in other cases, you fertilized some flowers with pollen from the same flower, & other flowers with pollen from distinct flowers borne by the same plant.1 I have neglected to make such observations, excepting once or twice, & I want much to know what difference there is in the number of the seeds in the two cases. Now will you be so kind as to tell me the result of all such experiments as you have made—
If you have the calculations ready, I shd like to hear the result, taking the number of seeds produced by flowers fertilized by other flowers on the same plant, as 100. I wish to quote all yr observations in full, or at least to give a few cases as illustrations.
Hoping that you will grant me this favour, I remain | My dear Sir | yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin
P.S. I read with the greatest interest your paper on the distribution of the seeds of the Graminæ. I was particularly struck with your argument about the cultivated cereals.2 I may add, though it relates to rather a different point, that I have seen 2 accounts of moths frequently visiting the flowers of Glyceria fluitans, which makes me suppose that they must secrete nectar!3
Footnotes
Bibliography
Hildebrand, Friedrich. 1864. Experimente über den Dimorphismus von Linum perenne und Primula sinensis. Botanische Zeitung 22: 1–5.
Kurr, Johann Gottlob von. 1833. Untersuchungen über die Bedeutung der Nektarien in den Blumen: auf eigene Beobachtungen und Versuche gegründet. Stuttgart: Henneschen Buchhandlung.
Marginalia: Charles Darwin’s marginalia. Edited by Mario A. Di Gregorio with the assistance of Nicholas W. Gill. Vol. 1. New York and London: Garland Publishing. 1990.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Asks for results of FH’s experiments fertilizing some flowers with pollen from the same flower, & other flowers with pollen from distinct flowers borne by the same plant.
Has read FH’s paper on the distribution of the seeds of the Graminæ (Hildebrand 1872, pp. 740–1) with great interest.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-8912F
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Friedrich Hermann Gustav (Friedrich) Hildebrand
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Klaus Groove (private collection); sold by Venator and Hanstein, Cologne (dealers), 16 March 2018
- Physical description
- LS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8912F,” accessed on 29 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-8912F.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 21