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From Francis Darwin to Daniel Oliver   [after 6 January 1875]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

Dear Sir

My father desires me to ask you to be so kind as to fill up the enclosed post-card with the locality of Genlisea aurea.2 I removed a small portion of this sp: from the specimens you were so good as to send, but unfortunately made no note of the locality— I see in Steudel U. aurea from Cochin China, & my father thought it would be of interest if this should be the Genlisea.3

Yours truly | Francis Darwin

Footnotes

1
The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to Daniel Oliver, 6 January [1875] (Correspondence vol. 23).
2
Genlisea aurea is endemic to Brazil (see Insectivorous plants, p. 451); it is now considered to be synonymous with G. ornata, which was described in detail in ibid., pp. 446–51.
3
Utricularia aurea (golden bladderwort) has a wide distribution throughout tropical Asia and Australia. It is not closely related to Genlisea aurea, although both species bear bright yellow flowers. Ernst Gottlieb Steudel’s Nomenclator botanicus (Steudel 1841) listed all known species of plants up to the time of publication (for species of Utricularia (bladderwort), see ibid., p. 736–7). No species of Genlisea are listed in Steudel 1841.

Bibliography

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

Steudel, Ernst Gottlieb. 1841. Nomenclator botanicus: seu: synonymia plantarum universalis, enumerans ordine alphabetico nomina atque synonyma, tum generica tum specifica, et a Linnaeo et a recentioribus de re botanica scriptoribus plantis phanerogamis imposita. 2d edition. 2 parts. Stuttgart and Tübingen: J. G. Cotta.

Summary

Asks DO to return enclosed post-card with locality of Genlisea aurea specimen that DO had sent.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-9803F
From
Francis Darwin
To
Daniel Oliver
Sent from
Down
Source of text
Newcastle University Special Collections (Spence Watson/Weiss Archive GB186 SW/6/8)
Physical description
ALS 1pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9803F,” accessed on 16 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9803F.xml

letter

Darwin Correspondence Project
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