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Sherardian Library of Plant Taxonomy, One of the Bodleian Libraries of the University of Oxford, Oxford, England

Matches: 2 hits

  • … Sherardian Library of Plant Taxonomy, One of the Bodleian Libraries of the …
  • … University of Oxford, Oxford, England Sherardian Library of Plant Taxonomy …

From Fritz Müller   [12 and 31 August, and 10 October 1865]

Summary

FM’s comments on Climbing Plants.

Author:  Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  12 and 31 Aug 1865 and 10 Oct 1865
Classmark:  Notes on some of the climbing-plants near Desterro, in South Brazil. By Herr Fritz Müller, in a letter to C. Darwin. [Read 7 December 1865.] Journal of the Linnean Society (Botany) 9 (1866): 344–9.
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-4881F

Matches: 61 hits

  • … FM’s comments on Climbing Plants . …
  • … which can be ascended by spirally twining plants, I have lately seen a trunk about five …
  • … which was thus ascended by a plant apparently belonging to the Menispermaceæ. …
  • … Notes on some of the climbing-plants near Desterro, in South Brazil. By Herr Fritz Müller, …
  • … and letter to J.  D.  Hooker, 4 December [1864] ). In Climbing plants 2d ed. , p.  37 n. , …
  • … s observation on the thickness of the trunk around which a twining plant might climb. …
  • … Bibliography Climbing plants 2d ed. : …
  • … The movements and habits of climbing plants. 2d edition. By Charles Darwin. …
  • … London: John Murray. 1875. ‘Climbing plants’: On the movements …
  • … and habits of climbing plants. By Charles Darwin. [Read 2 February 1865. ] Journal of the …
  • … on the “Movements and Habits of Climbing-Plants,” you say that you have seen no tendrils …
  • … Müller, 12 August 1865 , n.  11. In ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  110–11, CD had concluded that …
  • … arrangement must be serviceable to the plant; for such branches grow upright without …
  • … being arrested in their course, whilst the plant is secured by the tendril-branches. …
  • … from the axils of all their leaves. In this plant every tendril appears to consist of two …
  • … 1 and 2) of a climbing Papilionaceous plant with a woody stem, which from its general …
  • … The young, soft, herbaceous shoots of this plant which rise from the ground are leafless. …
  • … rudimentary ones; and finally, when the plant has reached the light, and spreads over the …
  • … The inverse may be observed when the plant sets out on the conquest of a new dominion, a …
  • … replaced by small squamæ. Thus in this plant, the branches assume four different shapes:— …
  • … all the work of, branches. While in this plant the highly modified tendrils may be changed …
  • … again into true branches, in two other plants which I have seen, the branches themselves, …
  • … modification, act as tendrils. One of these plants belongs to the Dalbergiæ. Many of its …
  • … between the support and the stem. The plant does not twine. I may add that another genus, …
  • … is also a branch climber. The second plant above referred to is a Securidaca ( …
  • … or secondary branches. In the preceding plant the branches seem to be arrested in their …
  • … when they clasp a support; in the present plant they continue to grow, and the same branch …
  • … flowers, this Securidaca is one of the most elegant and magnificent plants of our flora. …
  • … From the last two plants it is but one step to the primordial and simplest condition of …
  • … of branch climbers the following stages:— 1. Plants supporting themselves only by their …
  • … at right angles—for example, Chiococca. 2. Plants clasping a support with their branches …
  • … Securidaca ( Hippocratia according to Endlicher, Gen. Plant. No.  5700, “arbores v.   …
  • … frutices, ramis contortis scandentes”). 3. Plants climbing with the tendril-like ends of …
  • … ramulorum apicibus cirrhosis scandens”). 4. Plants with highly modified tendrils, which …
  • … be transformed again into branches—for example, the above- mentioned Papilionaceous plant. …
  • … 5. Plants with tendrils used exclusively for climbing— Strychnos , Caulotretus. I will …
  • … CD’s remark on page 112 of ‘Climbing plants’ , that he knew ‘nothing of any transitional …
  • … possible; see also ibid. , p.  10. In Climbing plants 2d ed. , p.  196, he added that such …
  • … of tendril formation. In ‘Climbing plants’ , p.   48, he wrote, ‘True tendrils are formed …
  • … and perhaps stipules’ (see Climbing plants 2d ed. , p.  84 and n. ). Müller refers to the …
  • … like branch from the axil). CD mentioned Strychnos in Climbing plants 2d ed. , pp.   …
  • … 84–5. CD mentioned Caulotretus in Climbing plants 2d ed. , pp.   …
  • … 84–5 n. Müller included sketches of the plants he described with his letter of 31 August  …
  • … submit Müller’s observations on climbing plants to the Linnean Society he wrote, ‘As the …
  • … sketches have not been found. In ‘Climbing plants’ , p.  48, CD had given the following …
  • … correct spelling is Hecastophyllum ; these plants are now included in the genus Dalbergia. …
  • … with slight modification, in Climbing plants 2d ed. , pp.  84–5 n. Müller’s list, tracing …
  • … from flower-peduncle to tendril in ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  111–12. Müller refers to the …
  • … tips of branchlets). In ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  57–9, 103–4, and 113, CD discussed the …
  • … on the discs in Haplolophium to Climbing plants 2d ed. , p.  102 n. , and amended his …
  • … on Cardiospermum halicacabum are in ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  87–9, 92, 112, and 113. CD’s …
  • … about spiral contraction in the peduncle of Serjania to Climbing plants 2d ed. , p.   …
  • … dentata is described in ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  14, 16, 20–1, and 116. CD’s notes on the …
  • … Müller’s observations on the twining of Davilla are given in Climbing plants 2d ed. , p.   …
  • … 36 n. In ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  18 and 20, CD had described the reversal in the …
  • … on Loasa are in DAR 157.1: 55–6. CD had noted in ‘Climbing plants’ , p.  18, that Mikania …
  • … moved ‘against the sun’; in Climbing plants 2d ed. , pp.  33–4, he cited Müller’s remark …
  • … Müller, 13 February 1866 ). In ‘Climbing plants’ , p.  21, CD had noted: ‘Our English …
  • … exclusively for climbing, those of the present plant would be excluded; for after having …
  • … single tendril which it bears has clasped, as frequently happens, the plant’s own stem. …
  • … With respect to spirally twining plants, you state that though the Hibbertia dentata …

From J. I. Rogers to Francis Darwin   25 March 1878

Summary

Suggests movements of sensitive plants may protect against insects.

Author:  John Innes Rogers
Addressee:  Francis Darwin
Date:  25 Mar 1878
Classmark:  DAR 176: 196
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-11445

Matches: 26 hits

  • … Suggests movements of sensitive plants may protect against insects. …
  • … Bibliography Climbing plants 2d ed. : …
  • … The movements and habits of climbing plants. 2d edition. By Charles Darwin. London: John …
  • … vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–. Movement in plants : The power …
  • … of movement in plants. By Charles Darwin. Assisted by Francis Darwin. London: John Murray. …
  • … of the use which the movements are to the plant has ever been given’ ( ibid . , p. …
  • … 413). Climbing plants 2d ed. …
  • … Mimosa is the genus of sensitive plants; most of CD’s …
  • … experiments for Movement in plants were performed on M. …
  • … pudica (shame plant), which, like many species of Mimosa , has stipular thorns along its …
  • … Richard Irwin Lynch had described the plant as highly sensitive to mechanical irritation ( …
  • … Lynch, [before 28 July 1877] ); however, in Movement in plants , p. 127, CD remarked that …
  • … were less sensitive to touch than those of other plants he observed. Desmodium gyrans …
  • … Codariocalyx motorius (telegraph or semaphore plant); CD discussed its circumnutation and …
  • … nyctitropic movements in Movement in plants , pp. 357–65. …
  • … Referring to your lecture on the “Analogies between Animal & plant life” and to the use …
  • … of the movements of the Sensitive plant not having been accounted for— my attention was …
  • … subject by D r Darwins book on climbing plants, & from some very rough experiments, I was …
  • … that the movements of the Sensitive plant were protective against insect depredations. I …
  • … the leaf motions of the Indian “Telegraph plant” (botanically called Desmodium gyrans I …
  • … had disappeared by morning leaving the plant untouched. Sometimes the caterpillar got on …
  • … looking green patch of Sensitive plants they suddenly move & the leaves disappear, leaving …
  • … taking up your time. On raising some sensitive plants in an inner conservatory case …
  • … together with some other seeds, I found that all the plants from the latter were much …
  • … injured by woodlice while the Sensitive plants were untouched. On putting caterpillars & …
  • … on to the stem of the full grown Sensitive plants, I found that the down pointing thorns …

From John Murray   19 November [1875]

Summary

Report on sales of Origin, Insectivorous plants, and Climbing plants.

Author:  John Murray
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  19 Nov [1875]
Classmark:  DAR 210.11: 3
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-10265

Matches: 15 hits

  • … Report on sales of Origin , Insectivorous plants , and …
  • … Climbing plants . …
  • … Murray Chas Darwin Esq 1.6 63"—] underl ; ‘753’ added below, ink 3.1 Climbing Plants] ‘ …
  • … Climbing Plants’ circled and line to ‘Insectivorous’ ink …
  • … figures are the number of copies printed of Origin 6th ed. , Insectivorous plants , and …
  • … Climbing plants 2d ed. …
  • … Murray meant Insectivorous plants rather …
  • … than Climbing plants 2d ed. CD had …
  • … slip for a reprinting of Insectivorous plants in his letter to Cooke of 17 November  …
  • … Bibliography Climbing plants 2d ed. : …
  • … The movements and habits of climbing plants. 2d edition. By Charles Darwin. …
  • … London: John Murray. 1875. Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. …
  • … in the manner following. For 1500 Origin of Species £130"— 3000 Insectivorous Plants 560"— …
  • … 1500 Climbing Plants 63"— If you consider this equitable I will forward at once cheques …
  • … on hand of all the works. Of Climbing Plants 300, but I think we might print of 500 more …

From Horatio Piggot   13 September 1877

Summary

Criticises passages of Insectivorous plants. Suggests plants be weighed before and after feeding to prove they have gained nourishment.

Author:  Horatio Piggot
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  13 Sept 1877
Classmark:  DAR 174: 44
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-11138

Matches: 30 hits

  • … Criticises passages of Insectivorous plants . …
  • … Suggests plants be weighed before and after feeding to prove they have gained nourishment. …
  • … 2 vols. London: J. Murray. Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. …
  • … may be attributed to its manner of catching insects’ ( Insectivorous plants , p. 357). …
  • … See Insectivorous plants , pp. 362–3. CD used solutions of carbonate of ammonia (now …
  • … the experiments described in Insectivorous plants . He discovered that it was particularly …
  • … your very interesting work on Insectivorous plants at the Library here. The first is that …
  • … to be done to make them satisfactory: If the plant appropriates or assimilates the fly, it …
  • … for this purpose the weight of the plant & the food before & after experiment should be …
  • … mineral food has been taken, the residue of the plant should disclose it. I do not see …
  • … In Insectivorous plants , CD argued that species of Drosera (sundew) absorbed matter from …
  • … Initial experiments designed to prove that the plants derived nutritional benefit from the …
  • … absorption were inconclusive as the plants died, but Francis Darwin had recently completed …
  • … concerns to Piggot’s. In Insectivorous plants , p. 301 n. , quoting Kirby and Spence 1818, …
  • … state of things when it was necessary to arm plants & animals differently from more usual …
  • … in King’s Road, London, had found that a plant of Dionaea muscipula (Venus fly trap) on …
  • … Knight’s observations is in [Duppa] 1809 , 1: 43–4. In Insectivorous plants , p. 453, …
  • … CD classified four ways in which higher plants obtained nutrition besides the ordinary …
  • … of a class of parasite that fed off living plant hosts, the other classes being those such …
  • … except at a footnote p 301 where M r Knight says a plant &c was much more luxuriant ” …
  • … that any external appearance of the plant would indicate growth from the Fly food: I do …
  • … practical Gardeners having the charge of these plants & I have never found one , who …
  • … agrees with the opinion that the plants derives nourishment from the …
  • … victim— Saprophytes feed on other plants that have chlorophyll in their leaves— Miseltoe …
  • … this process would be of high service to plants growing on poor soils it would tend to …
  • … natural selection, therefore any ordinary plant having a viscid gland which occasionally …
  • … to be a mystery how several genera of plants in no way closely related have independently …
  • … it but if I might say so, keep the Book on Insectivorous plants closely to its subject, …
  • … the habits of the plants accurately observed will exhaust a lifetime without theorising. …
  • … is consistent with the ordinary pursuit of plants, obtaining their food externally from …

To Linnean Society   1 January [1875]

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Summary

Asks permission to republish his climbing plants paper [J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Bot.) 9 (1867): 1–118] in a corrected form [Climbing plants].

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Linnean Society
Date:  1 Jan [1875]
Classmark:  DAR 97: C12
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-10004

Matches: 17 hits

  • … Asks permission to republish his climbing plants paper [ J. Linn. Soc. Lond. ( …
  • … Bot. ) 9 (1867): 1–118] in a corrected form [ Climbing plants ]. …
  • … Bibliography Climbing plants 2d ed. : …
  • … The movements and habits of climbing plants. 2d edition. By Charles Darwin. …
  • … London: John Murray. 1875. Climbing plants : On the movements …
  • … and habits of climbing plants. By Charles Darwin. London: Longman, Green, …
  • … Longman, Roberts & Green; Williams & Norgate. 1865. ‘Climbing plants’: On the movements …
  • … and habits of climbing plants. By Charles Darwin. [Read 2 February 1865. ] …
  • … The year is established by the reference to Climbing plants (see n.   …
  • … 2, below). ‘Climbing plants’ , CD’s paper in the Journal of the Linnean …
  • … Society ( Botany ), was also published by Longman in 1865 ( Climbing plants ). …
  • … Climbing plants 2d ed.  was published in November 1875 ( letter from R. F. …
  • … 1875 ). CD originally planned to publish the material on climbing plants as part of …
  • … his book Insectivorous plants , but later decided …
  • … to publish Climbing plants 2d ed. as a separate volume (see letter from John Murray, 9  …
  • … Botany ) 9 (1867): 1–118. Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. …
  • … in a corrected form my paper on Climbing Plants which appears in the 9 th vol (1865) of …

To J. D. Hooker   25 May [1877]

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Summary

CD has again become interested in "bloom" on plants; requests JDH’s help with seeds and plants.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Joseph Dalton Hooker
Date:  25 May [1877]
Classmark:  DAR 95: 440–1; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Darwin: Letters to Thiselton-Dyer, 1873–81: f. 69)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-10972

Matches: 24 hits

  • … CD has again become interested in "bloom" on plants; requests JDH’s …
  • … help with seeds and plants. …
  • … vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–. Movement in plants : The power …
  • … of movement in plants. By Charles Darwin. Assisted by Francis Darwin. London: John Murray. …
  • … my old notes about the ‘bloom’ on plants, & I think that the subject is worth pursuing, …
  • … let me have them. — There are also several plants which I suppose it w d .  be impossible …
  • … quadrifolia } or A. Brongniart says that the leaves of these plants go to sleep. !! —— …
  • … pubescens Strephium Guianense Musa glauca Castor-oil Plant Mimosa …
  • … albida (a plant which I formerly borrowed ) Desmodium gyrans. …
  • … N.B I suppose that I could buy this plant. — Would Veitch be …
  • … best man to apply to for out of way plants?? …
  • … Nelumbium & 1 or 2 other Water-plants with good “bloom”. — …
  • … Possibly other plants may be found to be almost indispensable. — …
  • … botanique de France 7 (1860): 470–2. See also Movement in plants , p. 391. Musa glauca is …
  • … a synonym of Ensete glaucum , the snow banana. The castor-oil plant is Ricinus communis . …
  • … CD borrowed a plant of Mimosa albida in November 1873 (see Correspondence vol. 21, letter …
  • … of Codariocalyx motorius (the telegraph plant); the Veitches were a large family firm of …
  • … will be no one authorised to lend me any plant. — I often wish that I could be content to …
  • … he said he had none! ) — Trifolium resupinatum — Arachis hypogæa or plant of — Mimosa …
  • … sensitiva or plant of (Brazilian …
  • … species) Loan of Plants of following species (if possible) but I shall not want them for …
  • … 17). Hyacinth Hooker . This is the list of plants mentioned in the letter above; it was …
  • … wrote on it: ‘Seeds all sent Dyer to send plants you asked for JDH’. Melilotus officinalis …
  • … Mimosa sensitiva is a sensitive plant native to Brazil and Peru. The correspondence with …

From Fritz Müller   4 March 1867

Summary

Reports observations on fertility of orchids he has self-pollinated and crossed with pollen of other species.

Author:  Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  4 Mar 1867
Classmark:  DAR 142: 102
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-5429

Matches: 39 hits

  • … On cover : ‘June 2 d | Dimorphic Plants | (Orchids [ del ]) | * It is not [ interl ] …
  • … reference is to Müller’s paper on climbing plants, copies of which had been sent by CD ( …
  • … of some of our most common and conspicuous plants, such as Schizolobium and Norantea. I …
  • … the structure, classification, and uses of plants, illustrated upon the natural system. 3d …
  • … and additional genera. London: Bradbury & Evans. Mabberley, David J. 1997. The plant-book. …
  • … A portable dictionary of the vascular plants. 2d edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University …
  • … which pollen and stigma of the same individual plant have the same deletery action on each …
  • … Rchb.  f. (S.  tricolor n.  sp? ). The same plants of Gomeza and of the several species of …
  • … on which I ascertained this fact, were fertile with pollen of other plants of the species. …
  • … Of Sigmatostalix I have but one flowering plant. [dried specimen] Flower of Gomeza , split …
  • … our other Notylia , the same individual plants pollen soon becomes blackish-brown in the …
  • … stigmatic chamber, whilst pollen of any other plant of the species remains fresh, emits …
  • … fertile with own, than with a distinct plants pollen. From several flowers, fertilized ( …
  • … weighed 5 grains. An ear of a second plant, the flowers of which were fertilized ( …
  • … Decbr.  20) with pollen of a      same plant yielded two pods also      seeds weighing …
  • … 5.5 and 6 grains. A second ear of the same plant was fertilized with
  • … pollen of a distinct plant of the species (Decbr.     )      pod (ripe febr.  17), the …
  • … 12,5 grains—more than those of both the pods fertilised with pollen of the same plant. …
  • … Three capsules of a third plant, fertilised (Decbr.   …
  • … 21) with pollen of a distinct plant, (ripe febr.  17), contained 26 grains of seeds; (each …
  • … this is rather curious, a pod of a fourth plant, fertilised (Decbr.  21) with pollen of a …
  • … seeds from a pod fertilised with the same plants pollen only 86 seemed to be good, while …
  • … the pods fertilised by pollen of a distinct plant of the species or of Ep. Schomburgkii. …
  • … analogy with illegitimate unions of dimorphic plants or crossing of distinct species.   …
  • … be interesting to compare the offspring of plants fertilised with own pollen with hybrids …
  • … and the illegitimate offspring of dimorphic plants. …
  • … May not the individual plants of some species, which were found to be quite sterile with …
  • … fertilisation of Scaevola ; but all the plants, which at several occasions I have brought …
  • … and from all the seeds, I planted, I did not obtain a single plant. In some other cases …
  • … failed in transplanting into my garden plants growing in the loose sand of the sea- …
  • … The copies of the paper on climbing plants, which you have been so good as to send me, …
  • … 7, 2: 199). Müller attached a number of plant specimens to this letter; none of the other …
  • … 14); he had initially supposed that the plant was male because he could not get pollinia …
  • … experiments comparing the growth rates of ‘plants raised from seed fertilized by pollen …
  • … the same flower & by pollen from a distinct plant’ (see Correspondence vol.  14, letter to …
  • … earlier work on dimorphic and trimorphic plants had suggested that fertility was dependent …
  • … on whether pollen from the same or different form of plant was used; he had …
  • … referred to the crosses of plants of the same form as ‘homomorphic’ unions and later as ‘ …
  • … experiments with dimorphic and trimorphic plants (see ‘Dimorphic condition in Primula ’ , …

To J. D. Hooker   [before 20 October 1873?]

Summary

Lists plants in which he is interested, including Neptunia and Mimosa species.

Do any strictly tropical plants have glaucous leaves?

Asks for observations on irritable plants.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Joseph Dalton Hooker
Date:  [before 20 Oct 1873?]
Classmark:  Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (JDH/3/6 Insectivorous plants 1873-8 f.39b)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-9107

Matches: 14 hits

  • … 1 gr. to 40 oz to water plants. …
  • … Botanic Gardens, Kew (JDH/3/6 Insectivorous plants 1873-8 f.39b) Charles Robert Darwin …
  • … Lists plants in which he is interested, including Neptunia and Mimosa …
  • … species. Do any strictly tropical plants have glaucous leaves? …
  • … Asks for observations on irritable plants. …
  • … vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–. Movement in plants : The power …
  • … of movement in plants. By Charles Darwin. Assisted by Francis Darwin. London: John Murray. …
  • … to keep the Mimosæ. — Whether many strictly Tropical plants have glaucous leaves or fruit. …
  • … Any plant with irritable stamen or stigma, or other part,—is it excited by a Bristle or …
  • … drops of falling water? — or Both? Plant of Rubus—? from Himalaya Phosphate of Ammonia— …
  • … neptunia or water mimosa) in Movement in plants . Hooker had reported that the leaves of …
  • … specific conditions and also to lend him a plant (see Correspondence vol. 21, letter to J. …
  • … CD discussed the species in Movement in plants . The babul acacia was Mimosa nilotica (a …
  • … was why the leaves and fruit of so many plants possessed a protective waxy coating or fine …

From Fritz Müller   31 October 1868

Summary

Writes on various observations and discoveries on dimorphic and trimorphic plants.

Author:  Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  31 Oct 1868
Classmark:  DAR 142: 98, 103
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-6439

Matches: 31 hits

  • … Writes on various observations and discoveries on dimorphic and trimorphic plants. …
  • … flowers : The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species. By Charles Darwin. …
  • … will soon and fully recover. The dimorphic plant, of which I enclosed dried flowers in my …
  • … section where he refers to the dimorphic plant is missing. Aegiphila is spiritweed. Müller …
  • … most common characteristics of hybrid plants is the luxurious growth in all their parts’. …
  • … Muller — Wonderful Dimorphism — name of Plant mentioned in letter of Aug 17 th ’ pencil, …
  • … offspring of dimorphic and trimorphic plants’: On the character and hybrid-like nature of …
  • … unions of dimorphic and trimorphic plants. By Charles Darwin. [Read 20 February 1868. ] …
  • … is di morphic. It is a small creeping plant with bright yellow flowers. I have gathered …
  • … without finding a single short-styled plant. diagram excised The length of the styli in …
  • … than the longer stamens; there are even plants, in which the styli reach exactly to the …
  • … be worth mentioning, that this di morphic plant closely resembles a mono morphic species, …
  • … from which form the leaves of the adult plant deviate considerably. There is another …
  • … of the seedlings are reddish beneath, those of the adult plant are green on both sides. — …
  • … As far as I can judge from wild plants, our several trimorphic Oxalis are quite sterile …
  • … with own-form pollen or at least with the plant’s own pollen. Two of our species …
  • … that the descendants of the same mother-plant spread over large areas. I have seen in a …
  • … have not yet seen a single pod on wild plants. — In my garden, where I have planted close …
  • … in this case they seed well, while isolated plants appear always to be sterile. — After …
  • … offspring of dimorphic and trimorphic plants, it occurred to me, that our sterile Oxalis , …
  • … a letter from Hooker offering to name plants that Müller sent to Kew ( letter from Fritz …
  • … Müller to Hermann Müller, 17 October 1868 , for some of the plants identified by Hooker). …
  • … For a photograph of the plant specimens, see plate facing p.  822. The excised diagrams …
  • … offspring of dimorphic and trimorphic plants’ , p.  431, CD had noted that some …
  • … the antheræ are nearly sessile. pressed plant specimens and excised diagrams The two …
  • … styled form. The pollen-grains of the long-styled plants are about 1 18 mm in diameter and …
  • … a smooth surface; those of the short-styled plants are much larger ( 1 12 mm ) and covered …
  • … projecting anthers of the short-styled plants, while they may rub strongly their proboscis …
  • … I formerly told you, might be an illegitimate plant, which had beaten in the struggle for …
  • … to be improbable that some illegitimate plants should also possess this luxuriating growth …
  • … of the length of the styli in some plants and their equalling in length the shorter …

To J. D. Hooker   [8 February 1864]

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Summary

Compares Clematis and Tropaeolum with respect to touch response. Tropaeolum shows a momentary response and quick recovery. Clematis takes hours to respond, and shows no recovery.

CD can show the gradations between leaves and tendrils, but how a branch passes into a tendril utterly puzzles him.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Joseph Dalton Hooker
Date:  [8 Feb 1864]
Classmark:  DAR 115: 219
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-4403

Matches: 27 hits

  • … vine tendrils were modified flower-peduncles (see ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  79–87, 112). …
  • … Bibliography ‘Climbing plants’: On the movements …
  • … and habits of climbing plants. By Charles Darwin. [Read 2 February 1865. ] Journal of the …
  • … mentioned it briefly twice in ‘Climbing plants’ (pp.  34, 112); see also n.  6, below. …
  • … conclusions about the gradation from leaf-climbers to tendril-bearing plants, see ‘ …
  • … Climbing plants’ , pp.  108–12. He …
  • … to function as a tendril in ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  111–14. See also letter to J.  D.   …
  • … write now merely to ask if you have Naravelia (the Clematis-like plant told me by Oliver) …
  • … to try & propagate me a plant at once. Have you Clematis cirrhosa? — It will amuse me to …
  • … cannot do so. You did send me Flagellaria; but most unfortunately young plants do not have …
  • … tendrils; & I fear my plant will not get them for another year; & this I much regret, as …
  • … make out action; but I have now a young plant of Gloriosa growing up, (as yet with simple …
  • … eight other species of Clematis in ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  26–34. CD may be referring to …
  • … shoots of C.  flammula (see ‘Climbing plants’ , p.  32, and letter to J.  D.  Hooker, 5  …
  • … Clematis and C.  flammula , see ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  27 and 33–4, letter to J.  D.   …
  • … 1864] and nn.  1 and 3. In ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  32–3, CD mentioned that a C.  flammula …
  • … was dated 18 January 1864 (see DAR 157.1: 79); in ‘Climbing plants’ , p.  34, CD mentioned …
  • … that his C.  vitalba plants were not healthy but appeared to have similar habits to C.   …
  • … and Clematis is discussed in ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  25–34. CD is referring to his study …
  • … Tropaeolum species in ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  34–8, with T.  tricolorum described on …
  • … comparison of leaf-climbers is in ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  47–8; see also ibid. , pp.   …
  • … January – 8 February 1864], and ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  34, 112. See letter from J.  D.   …
  • … of Flagellaria indica in ‘Climbing plants’ , p.  46. CD’s earlier observations of Gloriosa …
  • … DAR 157.1: 108. Observations of the new plant, dated 20 February 1864, 9, 10, 18, and 27  …
  • … 106–8. He discussed Gloriosa in ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  45–6. In his memorandum of [28  …
  • … his thanks to those who provided information and references for ‘Climbing plants’ (see ‘ …
  • … Climbing plants’ , p.  14 n. ). A note dated 31 January 1864 in DAR 157.1: 121 discusses …

From Maxwell Tylden Masters   7 February 1865

Summary

MTM heard part of the abstract of CD’s paper on climbing plants, read at the Linnean Society on 2 Feb. Offers CD his opinion and information on the subject, which he has studied for many years.

Author:  Maxwell Tylden Masters
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  7 Feb 1865
Classmark:  DAR 171: 71
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-4766

Matches: 31 hits

  • … of the abstract of CD’s paper on climbing plants, read at the Linnean Society on 2 Feb. …
  • … torsion’, in which he cited ‘Climbing plants’ , in Vegetable teratology ( Masters 1869 , …
  • … above. The leaf-climber Solanum jasminoides is described in ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  41–3. …
  • … CD did not cite Masters 1863b in ‘Climbing plants’ . …
  • … An abstract of ‘Climbing plants’ was read at the meeting of the Linnean Society on 2  …
  • … Bibliography ‘Climbing plants’: On the movements …
  • … and habits of climbing plants. By Charles Darwin. [Read 2 February 1865. ] Journal of the …
  • … of the summary of your paper on twining plants at the last meeting of the Linn. Society …
  • … deviations from the usual construction of plants. London: Ray Society. Moquin-Tandon, …
  • … and Appendix IV). For CD’s discussion of types of spiral growth in twining plants, see ‘ …
  • … Climbing plants’ , pp.  5–7, 96–8. …
  • … Masters several specimens of abnormal plants, including one showing an example of torsion …
  • … of spiral torsion in Galium and other plants are discussed in Masters 1869 , pp.  319–26, …
  • … the hook-climber Galium aparine in ‘Climbing plants’ , p.  105; see also DAR 157.1: 59. …
  • … s findings on spiral torsion in ‘Climbing plants’ in Masters 1869 , p.  320 n. There is an …
  • … CD included this statement in ‘Climbing plants’ , p.  6 n. , and prefaced it by observing …
  • … might explain the normal axial twisting of twining plants, but that it did ‘not preclude …
  • … the twisting being of service to the plant by giving greater rigidity to the stem’. CD may …
  • … inclusion in the manuscript of ‘Climbing plants’ that he had already sent on 18 January  …
  • … Hooker, 19 January [1865] ). In ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  42–3, CD noted the changes in a …
  • … a diagram of this change in ‘Climbing plants’ , p.  43 (see also CD’s notes on these …
  • … during which the abstract of ‘Climbing plants’ was read, see the letter from J.  D.   …
  • … by the Solanum petioles, see ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  43, 47, and 113–14. CD had read the …
  • … February [1862] ). CD had considered the relationship between plant parts in 1864, also in …
  • … relation to his work with climbing plants (see Correspondence vol.  12, letter to Daniel …
  • … related these to the changes in the Solanum petiole, in ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  43–4 n. …
  • … For CD’s addition of this note to the manuscript of ‘Climbing plants’ , see n.  5, above. …
  • … 1863b . Only an abstract of ‘Climbing plants’ was read at a meeting of the Linnean Society …
  • … The latter cases occur very generally in Plants with opposite or verticillate leaves e.g. …
  • … rarely does this spiralism affect plants with alternate leaves— As a consequence of this …
  • … channelled petioles In all peltate leaved plants the petiole is cylindrical and the woody …

From John Murray   9 April [1875]

Summary

JM expresses willingness to publish CD’s Climbing plants [2d ed.].

Author:  John Murray
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  9 Apr [1875]
Classmark:  DAR 171: 447
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-9921

Matches: 14 hits

  • … JM expresses willingness to publish CD’s Climbing plants [2d ed. ]. …
  • … Bibliography Climbing plants 2d ed. : …
  • … The movements and habits of climbing plants. 2d edition. By Charles Darwin. …
  • … London: John Murray. 1875. Climbing plants : On the movements …
  • … and habits of climbing plants. By Charles Darwin. London: Longman, Green, …
  • … Longman, Roberts & Green; Williams & Norgate. 1865. ‘Climbing plants’: On the movements …
  • … and habits of climbing plants. By Charles Darwin. [Read 2 February 1865. ] …
  • … April 9 My Dear Sir Your Twining & Climbing Plants” seems to me a very curious book & I am …
  • … The year is established by the reference to Climbing plants 2d ed. (see n.   …
  • … 2, below). Climbing plants 2d ed.  was published in November 1875 ( Publishers’ …
  • … to publish it as part of Insectivorous plants ( letter to J. V. Carus, 7 February 1875 ). …
  • … a double issue of the Journal of the Linnean Society (Botany) ( ‘Climbing plants’ ) and as …
  • … a book ( Climbing plants ) published by Longmans and Williams & Norgate . …
  • … Botany ) 9 (1867): 1–118. Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. …

From Fritz Müller   2 June 1867

Summary

Discusses dimorphism in plants, especially the Rubiaceae.

Gives observations on orchids; notes varying degrees of self-sterility and a varying success at crossing distinct species.

Mentions local ferns he is collecting

and considers the phenomenon of apparently mimetic plants.

Author:  Johann Friedrich Theodor (Fritz) Müller
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  2 June 1867
Classmark:  DAR 110: B113–14
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-5559

Matches: 35 hits

  • … Discusses dimorphism in plants, especially the Rubiaceae. Gives observations on orchids; …
  • … local ferns he is collecting and considers the phenomenon of apparently mimetic plants. …
  • … time the copies of the paper on climbing plants despatched Apr.  20 th . I already told …
  • … of a former letter; the Rubiaceous plant, which I sent you under the name of Diodia , does …
  • … flowers : The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species. By Charles Darwin. …
  • … Orchidaceae). Phytologia 82: 370–83. Mabberley, David J. 1997. The plant-book. …
  • … A portable dictionary of the vascular plants. 2d edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University …
  • … Variation : The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 …
  • … Here is one more dimorphic Rubiaceous plant, specimen excised a Coccocypselum ; I found …
  • … having as yet seen only a single flowering plant of the second species, I do not know, …
  • … I hardly doubt that it will be so. The plants are worth cultivating for their very pretty …
  • … prove to be dimorphic; Endlicher (gen.  plant.  n o 3267) says it is dioecious, the male ( …
  • … I have since found myself a flowering plant, which has continued flowering in my garden …
  • … for about six weeks. The flowering stem of my plant is about four (or five) years old, and …
  • … individual variability. On a vigorous large plant I crossed 8 flowers, all of which are …
  • … pollen from distinct flowers of the same plant) are equal in size to the crossed pods, 1 ( …
  • … is a little smaller. — On a second vigorous plant with a very large panicle I crossed 10  …
  • … showed brown pollen, when dissected. — On a third, small but healthy, plant one flower was …
  • … fertilised with the same plants pollen and is yielding a pod much smaller , than that of a …
  • … own pollen-mass and one from a distinct plant; they are producing seed-capsules equal in …
  • … crossed one. Lastly, on two other weak plants 3 flowers were self-fertilized and perished, …
  • … rapidly, than most other pods of the same plant; fertilized Jan.  17, it measured 30mm Feb …
  • … of the difference of growth in the plants produced from self-fertilized and crossed seeds, …
  • … to the mutual poisonous action of the same plants pollen and stigma. I have lately begun …
  • … my main occupations will be cultivating plants; so, far from not caring much, as you fear, …
  • … of 30 May 1867, he mentioned that the plant belonged to the tribe Neottieae (Möller ed.   …
  • … his interest in comparing the growth of plants produced from self-fertilised and crossed …
  • … doubts about whether he would ever see the plants flower, since he thought that they were …
  • … to say to which of the two species a plant belonged without looking for the nerves. — A …
  • … to this latter so closely, that sterile plants can often hardly be distinguished without …
  • … the Itajahy, I was struck by a Papilionaceous plant, which at first sight, deceived by the …
  • … by far more probable, that it is a mimetic plant. I am quite unable to explain the fact of …
  • … the genus, (which, besides, are very beautiful plants) in order to have an opportunity of …
  • … this fact— Your Cordia is a small shrub, and very small plants are able to flower, so …
  • … that perhaps you may see your plants flowering next year. On the Itajahy I intend to make …

From W. C. Marshall   25 September [1878]

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Summary

Observations on insectivorous plants.

Author:  William Cecil (Bill) Marshall
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  25 Sept [1878]
Classmark:  DAR 86: B1–2
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-10173

Matches: 17 hits

  • … Observations on insectivorous plants. …
  • … University Press. 1985–. Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. …
  • … r . Darwin I am sending you with this a plant which I suspect of being insectivorous, you …
  • … hardly appeared at all this year; and the plant w h .  accompanies this is the only one I …
  • … previously made observations on insectivorous plants at CD’s request (see Correspondence …
  • … letter from W. C. Marshall, 5 September [1874] ; see also Insectivorous plants , pp. 369– …
  • … 70). The plant sent to Horace Darwin has not been identified; see also letter to W. C. …
  • … for the 2 or 3 un-expanded leaves on each plant, I am sure it is well within the mark to …
  • … a piece during the season. These were plants selected as being fine, but I am certain I …
  • … wish to send me any message about these plants I shall be at 122 Mount S t .  next week. y …
  • … numbers of minute insects adhere to the plant; in most cases to the under side of the …
  • … spots where the insects rest. I hope this plant may at any rate enable you to determine …
  • … worth observing. (There are insects on the plant sent. ) I can probably send you more next …
  • … I have told the gardener to preserve the plant if he finds it. I noticed some very fine & …
  • … caught & send you the butchers list of two fine plants I gathered at the end of July on …
  • … Sty Head Pass. leaf Plant A …
  • … leaf Plant B 1 } withered but many flies 1 } withered & remains of flies numerous but not …

To J. D. Hooker   [27 January 1864]

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Summary

CD continues very ill.

His only work is a little on tendrils and climbers. Asks whether all tendrils are modified leaves or whether some are modified stems.

Last number [Jan 1864?] of Natural History Review is best that has appeared.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Joseph Dalton Hooker
Date:  [27 Jan 1864]
Classmark:  DAR 115: 218
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-4398

Matches: 29 hits

  • … stalks of Traveller’s joy look like tendrils. Such plants may be called leaf climbers . Do …
  • … know whether there is a leaf climbing Leguminous plant? (There are here 4 questions. ) …
  • … et al. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1994. ‘Climbing plants’: On the movements …
  • … and habits of climbing plants. By Charles Darwin. [Read 2 February 1865. ] Journal of the …
  • … in the Bignoniaceae, were derived from leaves ( ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  49, 110– …
  • … 11). See ‘Climbing plants’ , p.  34, for CD’s discussion of traveller’s-joy ( Clematis …
  • … 157.1: 78–9; the second note is dated 18 January 1864. In ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  114–15, …
  • … after discussing the transition over time of twining plants to leaf-climbers, …
  • … and then to plants climbing with tendrils, CD described cases of reversion in the common …
  • … 4th ser. 20: 188–200. ] Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. …
  • … delight is to look at the many odd leaves & plants from Kew. — Ceropegia Gardeneri is now …
  • … through your Houses, remember me & climbing plants. — By the way you said that if Drosera …
  • … dichotoma could be propagated, I sh d .  have a plant. — …
  • … My work on climbing plants is getting pretty perfect, & really some of the facts are very …
  • … January 1864] and n.  3. Hooker had sent CD plants for his hothouse from the Royal Botanic …
  • … the movement of shoots in the climbing plant Ceropegia gardnerii ; he had started …
  • … Ceropegia in DAR 157.1: 10–17, and ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  4, 19, 27). Daniel Oliver . CD …
  • … of Drosera dichotoma from Dorothy Fanny Nevill (see Insectivorous plants , pp.  281–2); he …
  • … published the results in Insectivorous plants , pp.  281–4. See also letter from J.  D.   …
  • … 8 February 1864] . CD was interested in determining what plant parts tendrils were …
  • … derived from (see ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  110–14, and observational note dated 31  …
  • … Cucurbitaceae tendrils, and ‘Climbing plants’ , p.  73. CD later decided that the tendrils …
  • … of the inflorescenses; see ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  79–87, 89–92, experimental note in DAR …
  • … peduncles opposite leaves ( ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.   79–87), and wrote that the common …
  • … from finely developed tendrils to a bunch of flower-buds’ ( ‘Climbing plants’ , p.  112). …
  • … s experimental notes on these climbing plants and others are in DAR 157.1 and DAR 157.2. …
  • … See n.  19, above. In ‘Climbing plants’ , pp.  26–34 and 108–12, CD argued that the …
  • … indicated that the genus represented a transitional stage between twining plants and …
  • … tendril-bearing plants; he also later decided that some tendrils, as …

To R. F. Cooke   23 April [1880]

Summary

His family shake heads in dismal manner at his proposed title for his MS: "The Circumnutating Movements of Plants". Makes several other suggestions [none of which was adopted].

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Robert Francis Cooke; John Murray
Date:  23 Apr [1880]
Classmark:  National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms. 42152 ff. 366–7)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-12588

Matches: 15 hits

  • … his MS: "The Circumnutating Movements of Plants". Makes several other suggestions [none of …
  • … Bibliography Climbing plants 2d ed. : …
  • … The movements and habits of climbing plants. 2d edition. By Charles Darwin. London: John …
  • … Sons. Hamden, Conn. : Archon Books, Shoe String Press. Movement in plants : The power …
  • … of movement in plants. By Charles Darwin. Assisted by Francis Darwin. London: John Murray. …
  • … of “The Circumnutating Movements of Plants. ” Now will you kindly consider the following …
  • … My book with title of “The Movements & Habits of Climbing Plants” is generally known, …
  • … as merely “ Climbing Plants” & is so lettered outside. Would it not be …
  • … the new book simply as “The Movements of Plants”. — This would be a quite correct title. — …
  • … Or I might put “The Nature of the Movements of Plants” but I do not like this so well. …
  • … One of my sons suggested “A contribution to the Physiology of Plants: Movements …
  • … of Plants. ” Do kindly give me your aid & believe me | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin …
  • … Murray was CD’s publisher; Movement in plants was published on 6 November 1880 ( Freeman …
  • … title as it appears on the spine of Climbing plants 2d ed. The son mentioned was probably …
  • … Francis Darwin , who had assisted CD in the research for Movement in plants . …

From R. F. Cooke   3 August 1875

Summary

Murray is willing to make same arrangement with D. Appleton for Climbing plants as for Insectivorous plants.

There will be no difficulty about corrections for reprint of Descent, providing new matter fills same space as old.

Author:  Robert Francis Cooke; John Murray
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  3 Aug 1875
Classmark:  DAR 171: 461
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-10107

Matches: 15 hits

  • … Murray is willing to make same arrangement with D. Appleton for Climbing plants as …
  • … for Insectivorous plants . There will be no difficulty about corrections for reprint of …
  • … Bibliography Climbing plants 2d ed. : …
  • … The movements and habits of climbing plants. 2d edition. By Charles Darwin. …
  • … London: John Murray. 1875. Climbing plants US ed. : …
  • … The movements and habits of climbing plants. 2d edition, revised. By Charles Darwin. New …
  • … Insectivorous plants was published by John Murray in London on 2 July 1875 (CD’s ‘ …
  • … paid £50 for stereotype plates ( Insectivorous plants US ed. ; letter from R. F. …
  • … Cooke, 3 July 1875 ). Appleton published the US edition of Climbing plants 2d ed. …
  • … in 1876 ( Climbing plants US ed. ). See Freeman 1977 . See letter from R. F. Cooke, 31 …
  • … to make the same arrangement with Mess rs . Appletons for the “Climbing Plants” as with …
  • … the “Insectivorous Plants” in proportion to the expenses. There is no hurry about the …
  • … Conn. : Archon Books, Shoe String Press. Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: …
  • … John Murray. 1875. Insectivorous plants US ed. By Charles Darwin. New York: D. Appleton & …
  • … 2d ed. : The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2d …

To J. D. Hooker   [2 May 1857]

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Summary

JDH has shaved the hair off the alpine plant.

CD apologises for his criticism.

Apparent but false relations of plant structure to climate: heath-like foliage of all Cape of Good Hope plants.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Joseph Dalton Hooker
Date:  [2 May 1857]
Classmark:  DAR 114: 195
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-2087

Matches: 19 hits

  • … 386–7, in the chapter on the geographical distribution of freshwater animals and plants. …
  • … JDH has shaved the hair off the alpine plant. CD apologises for his criticism. …
  • … Apparent but false relations of plant structure to climate: heath-like foliage …
  • … of all Cape of Good Hope plants. …
  • … breakfast cup, & before I had left home 118 plants had come up; how many more will be up …
  • … This bears on chance of Birds by their muddy feet transporting F.W.  plants. — It w d . …
  • … a bad dodge for a collector in country, when plants were not in seed, to collect & dry mud …
  • … You have shaved the hair off the alpine plants pretty effectually. — The case of the …
  • … a “tie” with the believed case of Pyrenees plants becoming glabrous at low levels. — If I …
  • … c d . have originated: was it through final causes, to keep the plants warm! Falconer in …
  • … coupled the two facts of woolly alpine plants & mammals. — How candidly & meekly you took …
  • … It has often been asserted that the same plant is more woolly when growing on mountains …
  • … to Westerham. He recorded the number of plants that germinated in a table; an entry on 21  …
  • … of 1 August 1857 gives a total of 537 plants. CD reported this experiment in Origin , …
  • … that in truly alpine species the proportion of woolly plants to be large. He is inclined …
  • … has a stronger tendency to produce hairs on plants. See letter to J.  D. Hooker, [29 April …
  • … as compiler, for having put down that “alpine plants have large flowers,” & now perhaps I …
  • … may write over these very words “alpine plants have small or apelatous flowers”! The most …
  • … apparent but false relation of structure of plants to climate, seems to be Meyers & Dreges …

To Gardeners’ Chronicle   [before 13 November 1858]

Summary

Reports the decreased yield of pods resulting from excluding bees from the flowers of the kidney bean. Gives other observations suggesting the importance of bees in the fertilisation of papilionaceous flowers.

Cites cases of crosses between varieties of bean grown close together and requests observations from readers on the subject. States his belief "that is a law of nature that every organic being should occasionally be crossed with a different individual of the same species".

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Gardeners’ Chronicle
Date:  [before 13 Nov 1858]
Classmark:  Gardeners’ Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette, 13 November 1858, pp. 828–9
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-2359

Matches: 41 hits

  • … botanists and horticulturists, including plant collectors and botanical artists. 3d ed. …
  • … large variation in their seed-crops of any Leguminous plants (including Sweet Peas), or …
  • … any facts on such plants having kept true for many consecutive generations, when grown …
  • … wing-petals. I accordingly covered up 17 plants, just before the flowers opened, moving a …
  • … full average number of Beans, could be, and were, produced on the plants under the net. …
  • … These 17 plants produced 36 pods; but no less than eight of them, though well formed, did …
  • … a half Beans; on the other hand 17 uncovered plants in an adjoining row which were visited …
  • … not tried in relation to the agency of insects in fertilising a plant with its own pollen. …
  • … years ago propounded the doctrine that no plant self-fertilises itself for a perpetuity of …
  • … could never naturally take place. But any plant habitually visited by insects in such a …
  • … would be very strong in the case of any plant, if the agency of insects were necessary for …
  • … I was led to believe that papilionaceous plants must be occasionally crossed. Nevertheless …
  • … to keep the crops of their Leguminous plants separate. Hence I was led last year in my …
  • … The dwarfs he had saved for seed. The plants themselves he believes presented nothing …
  • … by Wiegmann in the case of several Leguminous plants, experimentised on most carefully by …
  • … then suppose in the case of Leguminous plants, after a long course of self-fertilisation, …
  • … to fail, and then, and not till then, the plants are eagerly ready to receive pollen from …
  • … should take place between neighbouring plants of the same species. ’ Knight was also cited …
  • … thin net; nothing in the appearance of the plants would lead me to suppose that this was …
  • … rows. The result was that the covered up plants had produced by August 13th only 35 pods, …
  • … of pods. There were many flowers still on the plants when uncovered, and it was curious to …
  • … put the net on a later crop. The covered plants now produced 97 pods, borne on 74 stalks, …
  • … or exactly thrice as many as on the covered plants. Taking this number as the standard of …
  • … the thrips, and as I have with some other plants actually seen a thrips which was dusted …
  • … from the covered and from some uncovered plants which were growing all round, and which I …
  • … as far as I could estimate, the uncovered plants produced just ten times as much seed as …
  • … Zealand, and asked him whether Leguminous plants seeded there freely before the hive bee …
  • … obliging manner has sent me a list of 24 plants of this order, which seeded abundantly …
  • … to inhabit New Zealand), the fact that these plants seeded freely at first appears quite …
  • … seed less freely than any other Leguminous plant in New Zealand, and he says, “I have for …
  • … dare trust my memory, that in England this plant is visited by humble bees and not by hive …
  • … quite like each other, the dozen produced plants differing in colour of flower, &c. , and …
  • … mixture which can be conceived; each plant differing from the others in tallness, foliage, …
  • … did Mr. Coe with respect to some of his plants, that some of the seedlings seemed to have …
  • … crossed by the Scarlet Runner; one of my plants trailed on the ground for a length of 4  …
  • … any case is on record of a vast number of plants of the same variety all sporting at the …
  • … in separating their crops of Leguminous plants, it may be asked, how are we to account for …
  • … the extraordinary amount of crossing in Mr. Coe’s plants in 1857, …
  • … when almost every plant in the four rows of the Negro seems to have been affected? I may …
  • … of papilionaceous flowers causes the plant’s own pollen to be pushed on to its own stigma, …
  • … at least amongst animals. Moreover, in plants it has been ascertained that the male organs …
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Darwin's in letters, 1873: Animal or vegetable?

Summary

Having laboured for nearly five years on human evolution, sexual selection, and the expression of emotions, Darwin was able to devote 1873 almost exclusively to his beloved plants. He resumed work on the digestive powers of sundews and Venus fly traps, and…

Matches: 8 hits

  • … was able to devote 1873 almost exclusively to his beloved plants. He resumed work on the digestive …
  • … work that would culminate in two books,  Insectivorous plants  (1875) and  Cross and self …
  • … of Anton Dohrn’s Zoological Station at Naples. Plants that eat and feel? Darwin had …
  • …  was the main focus of Darwin’s study of insectivorous plants, a group that also included the Venus …
  • … involved not only feeding meat, egg, and gelatine to the plants, but also applying various acids and …
  • … nerve is touched … a sensation is felt” ( Insectivorous plants , p. 63). The plants secreted a …
  • … ( ibid ., p.18). The research on insectivorous plants involved collaboration with a wide …
  • … that had known effects on animals. To test whether the plants had a nerve-like structure, Darwin …

Darwin in letters, 1875: Pulling strings

Summary

‘I am getting sick of insectivorous plants’, Darwin confessed in January 1875. He had worked on the subject intermittently since 1859, and had been steadily engaged on a book manuscript for nine months; January also saw the conclusion of a bitter dispute…

Matches: 22 hits

  • … over the sickening work of preparing new Editions Plants always held an important place …
  • … Joseph Dalton Hooker, ‘I am getting sick of insectivorous plants.’ Darwin had worked on the subject …
  • … another manuscript, the second edition of Climbing plants , which he hoped to publish in a single …
  • … of the Linnean sickened him much more than insectivorous plants. As he confessed to Hooker on 12 …
  • … it is most painful as I liked the man.’   Poisons, plants, and print-runs Darwin’s …
  • … to his research on the digestive properties of insectivorous plants. This work had led to …
  • … Indeed, some of the experiments that Darwin performed on plants, such as the application of salts, …
  • … of Brunton and Fayrer’s experiments to Insectivorous plants , pp. 206–9, remarking on the …
  • … to dozens of eager students.’ The cunning ways in which plants lured insects to their death were …
  • … ground Darwin had originally planned Insectivorous plants to be published together with a …
  • … text was judged too large for one volume. Climbing plants 2d ed. was delayed until November, …
  • … June, shortly after the proof corrections of Insectivorous plants were finished. An …
  • … work.’ Romanes bisected root vegetables and tuberous plants, and boasted about a ‘beautifully …
  • … February 1875?] ). By May, having finished Insectivorous plants , and moved on to Variation …
  • … 1875a), and started at once to translate Insectivorous plants (Carus trans. 1876a). The German …
  • … with Darwin the previous year about insectivorous plants, and had lent him several tropical …
  • … to accompany her presentation copy of Insectivorous plants ( letter to D. F. Nevill, 15 July …
  • … umbilical cord was analogous to the spiral form of twining plants (letters from Lawson Tait, 16 …
  • … August, he published a favourable review of Insectivorous plants for the Spectator , and took …
  • … of his public support for pangenesis and Insectivorous plants , but he had reservations about the …
  • … eventually able to resume observational work on his beloved plants, the year did not end quietly. In …
  • … and was found at his desk with a copy of Insectivorous plants open beside him, and specimens of …

Darwin in letters, 1878: Movement and sleep

Summary

In 1878, Darwin devoted most of his attention to the movements of plants. He investigated the growth pattern of roots and shoots, studying the function of specific organs in this process. Working closely with his son Francis, Darwin devised a series of…

Matches: 13 hits

  • … I think we have proved that the sleep of plants is to lessen injury to leaves from radiation …
  • … heat loss. ‘I think we have proved that the sleep of plants is to lessen injury to leaves from …
  • … Linnaus. But we have killed or badly injured a multitude of plants.’ Movement in plants
  • … through the soil in the shape of an arch ( Movement in plants , pp. 96–7). As usual, staff at the …
  • … leaf-stalk: the pulvinus, a cellular mass present in some plants that expands first on one side, …
  • … organ rather than to circumnutation (see Movement in plants , pp. 112–13). He explained to …
  • … chapter to the sensitivity of the apex in Movement in plants . This was a point on which he …
  • … to Francis Darwin, [11 May 1878] ). Having found plants responsive to touch, light, heat, …
  • … the observation will prove erroneous) that certain sensitive plants were excited into movement, by a …
  • … Francis apparently played the musical instrument to various plants. To confirm the results, Darwin …
  • … of sound, but the piercing blast had no effect. ‘The plants, ill-luck to them, are not sensitive to …
  • … Francis was away, Darwin sent regular reports about their plants, and longed for conversation: …
  • … the Philadelphia Soc. says in a somewhat sneering tone that plants behave differently in one country …

Darwin in letters, 1863: Quarrels at home, honours abroad

Summary

At the start of 1863, Charles Darwin was actively working on the manuscript of The variation of animals and plants under domestication, anticipating with excitement the construction of a hothouse to accommodate his increasingly varied botanical experiments…

Matches: 14 hits

  • … working on the manuscript of  The variation of animals and plants under domestication , …
  • … ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 [December 1863] ). Plants and more plants Phyllotaxy …
  • … impetus for Darwin to continue the work on dimorphic plants, and on cross and hybrid sterility, that …
  • … Hooker, 29 May [1863] ). The new hothouse: tropical plants Darwin continued his own …
  • … hothouse in February; this enabled him to grow more tropical plants than before (see …
  • … the same species crossing with one another in a variety of plants. With additional study of …
  • … on orchids, melastomas, and other tropical and sub-tropical plants with observers from warmer parts …
  • … with a change in fertility when crossed with other plants in the same species ( see letter to Isaac …
  • … self fertilisation , both published in the 1870s. Plants that move Darwin regularly …
  • … August [1863] ). He acquired tropical ‘tendrilliferous’ plants that could grow in his hothouse from …
  • … of movement of tendrils, stems, and leaves in different plants ( see letter from J. D. Hooker, [31 …
  • … observations would be to the later publications ‘Climbing plants’ and  Movement in plants . At the …
  • … in watching these ‘wonderfully crafty & sagacious’ plants was cut short in September by his …
  • … large body of facts’ on variation in domestic animals and plants ( Variation  1: 1). He then …

Darwin in letters, 1865: Delays and disappointments

Summary

The year was marked by three deaths of personal significance to Darwin: Hugh Falconer, a friend and supporter; Robert FitzRoy, captain of the Beagle; and William Jackson Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and father of Darwin’s friend…

Matches: 11 hits

  • … mind was the writing of  The variation of animals and plants under domestication  ( Variation ). …
  • … including the publication of his long paper on climbing plants in the  Journal of the Linnean …
  • … of excerpts from Fritz Müller’s letters on climbing plants to make another paper. Darwin also …
  • … [1865] ). Darwin was ready to submit his paper on climbing plants to the Linnean Society of London, …
  • … book was not published until January 1868. 'Climbing plants' As was usual …
  • … great one. In January he expected his manuscript on climbing plants back from the copyist (whose …
  • … April 1865 ; Darwin noted at the beginning of ‘Climbing plants’ that he had been led to the subject …
  • … author (Freeman 1978). The publication of ‘Climbing plants’ led to a small collaborative …
  • … submitted to Darwin a wealth of observations on climbing plants in Destêrro, excerpts from which …
  • … and made alterations to the second edition of  Climbing plants  reflecting Müller’s findings. …
  • … States, and Asa Gray wrote a long review of ‘Climbing plants’ in the  American Journal of Science …

Darwin in letters, 1864: Failing health

Summary

On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July 1864: ‘the venerable beard gives the look of your having suffered, and … of having grown older’.  Because of poor health, Because of poor health, Darwin…

Matches: 19 hits

  • … enough for him to make some observations of dimorphic plants with William’s help; he also ordered a …
  • … he finished a preliminary draft of his paper on climbing plants in mid-September, he noted in his …
  • … work on the manuscript of  The variation of animals and plants under domestication ( Variation …
  • … His primary botanical preoccupation in 1864 was climbing plants. He had become interested in …
  • … and to his developing research on the origin of climbing plants. In early February, he wrote: ‘I can …
  • … of the paper ‘On the movements and habits of climbing plants’ (‘Climbing plants’), which Darwin …
  • … to form true tendrils. After observing a variety of climbing plants, he argued that most had …
  • … genus  Lathyrus  as hypothetical examples of climbing plants that had developed into leaf-climbers …
  • … to leaves, as in  L. nissolia . Darwin wrote (‘Climbing plants’, p. 115): ‘If it be true that …
  • … 29 October [1864] that he was continuing to study climbing plants after the completion of his …
  • … experiments In addition to his work on climbing plants, Darwin engaged in 1864 in botanical …
  • … noticed that the sterility resulting from crosses between plants of the same form was not …
  • … highest fertility with around two-thirds of the neighbouring plants, rather than with half, as was …
  • … (‘Illegitimate offspring of dimorphic and trimorphic plants’), and later in his 1877 book, The …
  • … a household enterprise. Rarely being able to observe plants outside the confines of Down, Darwin …
  • … weights and measures, and drew the figures for ‘Climbing plants’. Francis, aged 14, collected …
  • … form that has hermaphrodite and female flowers on different plants. Orchids: a growing body …
  • … of geological findings to the geographic distribution of plants and animals, lay behind the spirited …
  • … on finding species in three different families of climbing plants with adhesive disks at the end of …

Darwin in letters, 1860: Answering critics

Summary

On 7 January 1860, John Murray published the second edition of Darwin’s Origin of species, printing off another 3000 copies to satisfy the demands of an audience that surprised both the publisher and the author. It wasn't long, however, before ‘the…

Matches: 9 hits

  • … inheritance in fowls, of the intercrossing among sweet-pea plants, of variation in the nests of bees …
  • … had observed the role of insects in the fertilisation of plants. In the spring and summer of 1860, …
  • … hence agents effecting cross-pollination between different plants) necessitated meticulous …
  • … morning been looking at my experimental Cowslips & find some plants have all flowers with long …
  • … anyhow I will mark with sticks the so-called male & female plants & watch their seeding. It …
  • … a paper of 1862 and in  The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species  (1877). …
  • … history, he tested the sensitivity of various insectivorous plants to a large variety of substances, …
  • … of the astonishing sensitivity of the leaves of these plants to minute quantities of nitrogenous …
  • … work was not published until 1875, when  Insectivorous plants  appeared. These studies …

Darwin in letters, 1856-1857: the 'Big Book'

Summary

In May 1856, Darwin began writing up his 'species sketch’ in earnest. During this period, his working life was completely dominated by the preparation of his 'Big Book', which was to be called Natural selection. Using letters are the main…

Matches: 12 hits

  • … his work on domestic animals by conducting experiments on plants. Expanding projects set up during …
  • … of Darwin’s conclusions about the variation of animals and plants under domestication were written …
  • … manuscript when compiling  The variation of animals and plants under domestication  (1868) and …
  • … source for many of Darwin’s views on domestic animals and plants and this, since it was composed so …
  • … how, and in what way variations appeared in animals and plants. Making the fullest possible use of …
  • … them on different aspects of the question. Did naturalised plants, he asked Asa Gray, vary in the …
  • … to include in his book was the apparent tendency of alpine plants to be more hairy than their …
  • … was mistaken: ‘You have shaved the hair off the alpine plants pretty effectually’ complained Darwin …
  • … answer. Nor could the botanists that Darwin asked about plants whose flowers seemed consistently to …
  • … crossing. The possibility of the cross-fertilisation of plants that grew under water was an equally …
  • … show that he was involved with many different experiments on plants through the summers of 1856 and …
  • … a series of researches designed to explain how animals and plants might have been transported to …

Darwin in letters, 1876: In the midst of life

Summary

1876 was the year in which the Darwins became grandparents for the first time.  And tragically lost their daughter-in-law, Amy, who died just days after her son's birth.  All the letters from 1876 are now published in volume 24 of The Correspondence…

Matches: 15 hits

  • … draft of his book on the cross- and self-fertilisation of plants, and the regularity of life in Down …
  • … and Darwin recasting his work on dimorphic and trimorphic plants in new ways. New Year's …
  • … changes to a reprint of the second edition of Climbing plants ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 23 …
  • … on Orchids, & hereafter my papers on dimorphic & trimorphic plants, together with some …
  • … human fossil bones in Canada, ‘I am now at work on plants and do not suppose that I shall ever …
  • … Darwin continued to receive responses to Insectivorous plants , which was published in July 1875, …
  • … whether Darwin had investigated the ability of insectivorous plants to sustain life, as other …
  • … that were absorbed through the leaves of insectivorous plants. An American horticulturist, Peter …
  • … years to show that in the majority of cases cross-fertilised plants were taller and more vigorous …
  • … analysis of the total number of results from a variety of plants over several generations. …
  • … in colour when successive generations of self-fertilised plants were grown in pots. ‘It is admitted …
  • … changes occurred because the roots, in the absence of other plants, absorbed different substances …
  • … of evolution’ ( Cross and self fertilisation , p. 27). Plants, more readily than animals, offered …
  • … from different forms of dimorphic and trimorphic plants in 1864 showed that hybrid sterility in …
  • … in structure or function. ‘I have become convinced that plants of this class cannot be recognised …

Darwin in letters, 1867: A civilised dispute

Summary

Charles Darwin’s major achievement in 1867 was the completion of his large work, The variation of animals and plants under domestication (Variation). The importance of Darwin’s network of correspondents becomes vividly apparent in his work on expression in…

Matches: 4 hits

  • … of his large work,  The variation of animals and plants under domestication ( Variation ). …
  • … the unwieldy title, ‘Domesticated Animals and Cultivated Plants, or the Principles of Variation, …
  • … and so the book became  The variation of animals and plants under domestication . In a letter to …
  • … of 2 November 1867 , was able to report on the progress of plants he had grown from some of Müller …

Darwin in letters, 1880: Sensitivity and worms

Summary

‘My heart & soul care for worms & nothing else in this world,’ Darwin wrote to his old Shrewsbury friend Henry Johnson on 14 November 1880. Darwin became fully devoted to earthworms in the spring of the year, just after finishing the manuscript of…

Matches: 10 hits

  • … the year, just after finishing the manuscript of Movement in plants, his most ambitious botanical …
  • … of Darwin’s work for the boundary between animals and plants, especially the origins of the nervous …
  • … has opened mine much wider. … It is very strange that plants, if they belong to the same species, …
  • … it. He first suggested ‘The Circumnutating Movements of Plants’, writing to his publisher’s business …
  • … title’. He finally settled on ‘Power of Movement in Plants’, but was doubtful of the book’s …
  • … the end of November. ‘It always pleases me to exalt Plants in the organic scale’, Darwin …
  • … ‘sensitivity’. Francis Balfour described Movement in plants as ‘a complete revelation— The …
  • … worms After finishing the manuscript of Movement in plants , Darwin began writing what …
  • … when I reflect on the innumerable structures, especially in plants, which 20 years ago would have …
  • … is more wonderful than all the movements of all the plants.’ The document was finished in early …

Darwin in letters, 1874: A turbulent year

Summary

The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early months working on second editions of Coral reefs and Descent of man; the rest of the year was mostly devoted to further research on insectivorous plants. A…

Matches: 10 hits

  • … year was mostly devoted to further research on insectivorous plants. A vicious dispute over an …
  • …  (butterwort) for Darwin’s work on insectivorous plants. Amy drew a plant and Francis was …
  • … for me’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 11 May [1874] ). Plants that eat . . . but how? …
  • … highly original botanical investigations of insectivorous plants. Even more than his previous …
  • … sensitivity, and other ‘animal’-like properties in plants led him to work with physiologists at the …
  • … Sanderson to do his own original research on insectivorous plants, and Darwin sent him his notes on  …
  • … study, he also sought out a variety of other insect-eating plants. The surgeon and botanist John …
  • … clandestina ) to be   the most wonderful carnivorous plants that she had seen’ ( letter from …
  • … the network that Darwin drew on in his work on insectivorous plants was remarkable. The aristocratic …
  • … Asa Gray publicised Darwin’s work on insectivorous plants in his articles for  Nation  and  …

Darwin in letters,1866: Survival of the fittest

Summary

The year 1866 began well for Charles Darwin, as his health, after several years of illness, was now considerably improved. In February, Darwin received a request from his publisher, John Murray, for a new edition of  Origin. Darwin got the fourth…

Matches: 6 hits

  • … part of what was to become  The variation of animals and plants under domestication  ( Variation …
  • … and organising information on variation in domesticated plants and animals in order to write the …
  • … discussions of other domesticated animals, and of cultivated plants. The second volume contained …
  • … two volumes I much fear) of “Domestic Animals & Cult. Plants” to Printers’ ( letter to J. D. …
  • … 1861 ). Darwin wished to establish whether dioecious plants had hermaphrodite ancestors, by …
  • … on competing theories of the geographical distribution of plants. Darwin had consistently argued …

Darwin in letters, 1877: Flowers and honours

Summary

Ever since the publication of Expression, Darwin’s research had centred firmly on botany. The year 1877 was no exception. The spring and early summer were spent completing Forms of flowers, his fifth book on a botanical topic. He then turned to the…

Matches: 14 hits

  • … (or ‘bloom’) on leaves and fruit, and to the movement of plants, focusing especially on the response …
  • … had been troubling Hooker and others at Kew gardens for more plants to aid his research, and he …
  • … Darwin compared the fertility of individual flowers and plants across a range of common species, …
  • … cleistogamy, and the evolution of monoecious and dioecious plants from hermaphrodites whose male or …
  • … of flowers , Darwin took up the problem of ‘bloom’ in plants. This waxy coating on the leaves and …
  • … 1873, but had broken off to concentrate on insectivorous plants. He resumed experiments in the …
  • … continue my observations.’ He requested a large number of plants from Hooker on 25 May , adding, …
  • … . ‘As it is we have made out clearly that with some plants (chiefly succulent) the bloom checks …
  • … ). Research on movement would continue over several years. Plants would be dragged from their …
  • … in the cold. Observations would be extended to the roots of plants and involve more elaborate …
  • … a number of Darwin’s critics who had questioned whether plants actually derived benefit from insect …
  • … to the aggregation of protoplasm found in insectivorous plants like Drosera , enabling the plant …
  • … tracing the origin of characteristics in animals and even plants to ‘memories’ that had been …
  • … Clark, 12 November 1877 ). Worms Aside from plants and infants, worms were Darwin’s …

Darwin in letters,1870: Human evolution

Summary

The year 1870 is aptly summarised by the brief entry Darwin made in his journal: ‘The whole of the year at work on the Descent of Man & Selection in relation to Sex’.  Descent was the culmination of over three decades of observations and reflections on…

Matches: 1 hits

  • … of his previous book,  Variation in animals and plants under domestication.  In fact,  Descent  …

Darwin in letters, 1868: Studying sex

Summary

The quantity of Darwin’s correspondence increased dramatically in 1868 due largely to his ever-widening research on human evolution and sexual selection.Darwin’s theory of sexual selection as applied to human descent led him to investigate aspects of the…

Matches: 4 hits

  • … the long-awaited publication of  Variation in animals and plants under domestication . Having been …
  • … of a wide range of experts on different domestic animals and plants, often indicating that the …
  • … and ‘Illegitimate offspring of dimorphic and trimorphic plants’. They were read before the Linnean …
  • … de Saporta similarly hoped that his own work on fossil plants would contribute ‘to the advancement …

Darwin in letters, 1851-1855: Death of a daughter

Summary

The letters from these years reveal the main preoccupations of Darwin’s life with a new intensity. The period opens with a family tragedy in the death of Darwin’s oldest and favourite daughter, Anne, and it shows how, weary and mourning his dead child,…

Matches: 8 hits

  • … mechanisms for the geographical distribution of animals and plants. Darwin began a series of …
  • … of seeds to withstand the effects of salt-water and of plants with ripe fruit to float, also drawing …
  • … and forceful arguments for the dispersal of animals and plants with Hooker who, with Charles Lyell …
  • … the lengthy tabulation of various catalogues of animals and plants in an attempt to ascertain …
  • … to test the effects of coloured light on the growth of plants. This study, like another on sensitive …
  • … of ancient monuments for representations of the domesticated plants and animals of earlier …
  • … as Edgar Leopold Layard, whose first-hand knowledge of the plants and animals of particular regions …
  • … palæontology, classification Hybridism, domestic animals & plants &c &c &c) to see …

Darwin in letters, 1862: A multiplicity of experiments

Summary

1862 was a particularly productive year for Darwin. This was not only the case in his published output (two botanical papers and a book on the pollination mechanisms of orchids), but more particularly in the extent and breadth of the botanical experiments…

Matches: 9 hits

  • …  in French. His work on variation in domestic animals and plants, the first part of the expanded …
  • … affected by, and in turn stimulated, his work on dimorphic plants, which had begun in 1861 with his …
  • … each form possessed both male and female organs, the plants were only fully fertile when crossed …
  • … his examination of pollination mechanisms to other orders of plants, he declared: ‘insects (in …
  • … some further experiments with sensitive and insectivorous plants in October, following his return to …
  • … long-promised book about variation in domestic animals and plants—the first part of his planned  …
  • … cause of the geographical distribution of animals and plants. Despite some worrying counter …
  • … Hooker’s reflections on the geographical distribution of plants led to a spirited discussion of …
  • … ). Hooker had found Greenland to be ‘unaccountably poor in plants’, a fact that seemed to counter …

Darwin in letters, 1872: Job done?

Summary

'My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, 'is so nearly closed. . .  What little more I can do, shall be chiefly new work’, and the tenor of his correspondence throughout the year is one of wistful reminiscence, coupled with a keen eye…

Matches: 4 hits

  • … his final decade: the powers of movement and digestion in plants, and the role of earthworms in …
  • … ( letter to Amy Ruck, 24 February [1872] ). Plants that move and eat `Now, pray don …
  • … on the mechanisms that allowed sensitive or insectivorous plants to move was something he needed no …
  • … their effects when applied to the leaves of insectivorous plants.  Darwin also described pricking …

Darwin in letters, 1861: Gaining allies

Summary

The year 1861 marked an important change in the direction of Darwin’s work. He had weathered the storm that followed the publication of Origin, and felt cautiously optimistic about the ultimate acceptance of his ideas. The letters from this year provide an…

Matches: 4 hits

  • … work on his study of the variations in domestic animals and plants, the first part of the more …
  • … become interested in  Drosera  and other insectivorous plants. His interest in dimorphism, …
  • … subject of his botanical investigations, insectivorous plants, all had ‘some direct bearing on the …
  • … to pursue his larger study of the variations in animals and plants upon which natural selection …
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