From George King 13 September 1881
Botanical Garden | Calcutta
13 Sept 1881
My Dear Sir,
As you may possibly not have seen a good specimen of the pitchers of Dischidia Rafflesiana Wall, and as I think they may interest you, I have taken the liberty to send * you a very good one which was sent to this garden some time ago from Eastern Bengal.1 The specimen is in a jar of spirit safely cased in a soldered tin box, over which there is a wooden cover: So I hope it may reach you safely
I have never had an opportunity of seeing this curious plant in a wild state. On several occasions living plants have been sent to the Garden, but although poor John Scott and myself did all we knew to get them to live, we never succeeded in keeping one alive more than a few weeks.2 I have therefore had no opportunity of making any observations on the use of the pitchers to the plant and to the ants which (in this garden at least) always infested them.
Wallich figures the plant in his Pl. Asiat. Rariores and, by book post, I send you a copy of his figure, while I herewith enclose an extract from his description—3 I am sorry I can now add nothing to the latter, but someday I may have the good fortune to observe the plant growing wild:
Believe me to be | Yrs sincerely | George King
*by Overland parcel post
Footnotes
Bibliography
Wallich, Nathaniel. 1830–2. Plantæ Asiaticæ rariores; or, descriptions and figures of a select number of unpublished East Indian plants. 3 vols. London, Paris, and Strasbourg: Treuttel and Würtz.
Summary
Sends preserved pitchers and figure of Dischidia rafflesiana, a rare plant from East Bengal, which GK and the late John Scott had tried in vain to cultivate.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-13336
- From
- George King
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- R. Bot. Gard., Calcutta
- Source of text
- DAR 169: 23
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13336,” accessed on 20 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13336.xml