To S. B. Herrick 6 March 1876
Down, | Beckenham, Kent.
March 6. 76
Dear Madam
My chief reason for believing that Drosera drew the greater part of its nourishment from captured insects was its growing where no other plants could grow.1 I began experiments on the comparative growth of plants with and without insects, but failed by the plants being accidentally poisoned.2 It seems to me likely that the chief difference would be in the production of seeds. I did not observe the developement of the glands as this had been partly done by MM. Grönland & Trécul; but Mr Bennett has recently read a paper on these glands which is published in the Monthly Microscop. Journal Jan 1876.3 I can hardly believe that they are modified stomata.4
I am glad my book has interest you. | Dear Madam | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Bennett, Alfred William. 1875. The absorptive glands of carnivorous plants. [Read 1 December 1875.] Monthly Microscopical Journal 15 (1876): 1–5.
Grönland, Johannes. 1855. Note sur les organes glanduleux du genre Drosera. Annales des sciences naturelles (botanique) 4th ser. 3: 297–303.
Trécul, Auguste. 1855. Organisation des glandes pédicellées des feuilles du Drosera rotundifolia. Annales des sciences naturelles (botanique) 4th ser. 3: 303–11.
Summary
CD came to believe Drosera drew its nourishment from insects because it grows where no other plants survive. Doubts glands are modified stomata.
Suggests works by Grönland and Trécul.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-10415
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Sophie McIlvaine Bledsoe (Sophie) (Bledsoe) Herrick
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- University of Virginia Library, Special Collections (3314 1: 61 MSS 3361-a)
- Physical description
- LS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10415,” accessed on 17 August 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10415.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 24