To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer 1 April [1879]1
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.
April 1st
My dear Dyer
The plants arrived all save & will be very useful.2 They are kinds which, as I formerly ascertained, move much quicker to than from the light, but I suspect do not change their centre of rotation (i.e. do not bend towards light), & this is a curious point, which I am anxious to ascertain.3 The Anoda will also be very useful, & you have sent me a prodigious supply of Trifolium seeds—4
Many thanks | Ever yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 24 March 1879.
The plants requested by CD were listed in the letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 24 March 1879.
In Movement in plants, pp. 451–2, CD discussed plants in which the speed of rotation was faster when moving towards the light than when moving away from it, attributing this to a vestige of heliotropism.
CD had requested seeds of Anoda wrightii, probably in order to observe the movement of the cotyledons (letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 24 March 1879; Movement in plants, pp. 302–3). Anoda wrightii (a synonym of Anoda lanceolata) is a species of mallow; Trifolium is the genus of clover.
Summary
Thanks for the plants for heliotropic experiments.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-11964
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Turner Thiselton-Dyer
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Darwin: Letters to Thiselton-Dyer, 1873–81: f. 169)
- Physical description
- ALS 1p †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11964,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11964.xml
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