From Daniel Oliver 23 April 1862
Kew.
Wednesday | 23. Apr. 1862
Dear Sir
Here are the flowers of Oxalis as requested. I do not perceive anything distinctly dimorphic.—1
My examining of the plant had reference chiefly to the aestival small flowers: they are very remarkable.— I altered a little the “definition” of the two groups of dimorphism in the paper which you so kindly looked over (& tho’t worth printing!).—2 Making one group with the Dimorphism manifest in, primarily, a separation more or less of the sexual organs, accompanied or not by alteration in the outer whorls.— (Thus including all wholly or partially diclinous plants,—Catasetum, Primula, &c) & the other group marked primarily by alteration primarily in envelopes of the flower without separation of the sexes.
Of course this is only the morphologl. definition
After discussing their function &c. we may class them in corresponding group by other characters.
Very sincerely yours | Danl. Oliver
Footnotes
Bibliography
Forms of flowers: The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1877.
Summary
Distinguishes two kinds of floral dimorphism: that affecting sexual organs and that affecting outer envelopes.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3515
- From
- Daniel Oliver
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Kew
- Source of text
- DAR 173.1: 14
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3515,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3515.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 10