To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer 19 July [1878]1
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.
July 19th
My dear Dyer
You have done me the greatest service which one man can do another, viz saved me from perhaps making a fool of myself; for I thought of sending a note or short paper on Thalia to Linn. Soc.— But now after reading Delpino’s admirable account of Maranta (I will hereafter look to Mr Nicholsons, for I have ceased to keep copies of Gardeners’ Chronicle) I am afraid to publish until examining more flowers & all mine are withered; so I must wait till next year, for Thalia-flowers could not be sent by post.2 Reading Delpino & examining the beautiful supply of flowers of Maranta & Calathea received this morning quite fresh (pray thank Mr Lynch)3 shows me that I must be very cautious, though I still believe that sensitiveness has here been added to Thalia. I have wasted a good deal of time, but have seldom enjoyed anything more than making out the action of every detail of structure. I shall not want any more flowers of Thalia or maranta, for as I said in the case of Thalia it wd. be necessary to have the plant on the spot.
There are many other interesting things in your letters; how very odd about the water in variegated leaves.—4
I have carefully tried seedlings of Quercus pannonica with glass filament in front of vertical glass & can see no signs of any conspicuous movement in the leaves.—5
I shd be the most unreasonable man in the whole universe, if I had dreamed of your getting me a young Pinus in a pot: I have sent my gardener to one large nursery-garden near here, but he did not succeed, but I shall try elsewhere.—6
Good Heavens what a bother it must be looking over many examination papers, if they are at all like the ones sent!7
I rejoice to hear at last a good account of Mrs. Dyer.—8
I do not doubt that you underrate greatly your Geograph-Distrib: Lecture.9 I think one always does so at first, & then afterwards one can see the merits of one’s own work.
With very many thanks | Farewell | C. Darwin
P.S. Since the above was written I have worked again at the maranta flowers & the liberation of the pistil is certainly, as Delpino says, purely mechanical. To my surprise 4 more Thalia flowers have opened, & I still think that here we have irritability; but I do not see yet how I can decide.—
My Arachis hypogea plant is dying & I have extreme wish to observe flower-peduncle (this, I know is not right name) burying the pod.—10 If you can aid me in this pray do. I so much wish to observe & compare all sorts of movements. But alas I want rest, & on Aug 7th my wife is going to take me for 17 days holidays: oh Lord how I wish that they were over.11
I have not succeeded in getting any stems which are negatively heliotropic; but I am now observing the tendrils of Bignonia capreolata from Kew, & these are finely negatively heliotropic. I think that you told me once that some roots are positively or negatively heliotropic: can you aid me with such.?12
Heaven forgive me for being so troublesome.
When I began I had no intention to write so unconsciably long a letter
Footnotes
Bibliography
Climbing plants 2d ed.: The movements and habits of climbing plants. 2d edition. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Green, J. Reynolds. 1914. A history of botany in the United Kingdom from the earliest times to the end of the 19th century. London and Toronto: J. M. Dent & Sons. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co.
Movement in plants: The power of movement in plants. By Charles Darwin. Assisted by Francis Darwin. London: John Murray. 1880.
Thiselton-Dyer, William Turner. 1878. Lecture on plant-distribution as a field for geographical research. [Read 24 June 1878.] Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London 22 (1878–9): 412–45.
Summary
Federico Delpino on mechanical movements of flower parts of Maranta. CD’s observations on Maranta, and his eagerness to compare cases of movement and irritability in plants.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-11616
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Turner Thiselton-Dyer
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Thiselton-Dyer, W. T., Letters from Charles Darwin 1873–81: 137–40)
- Physical description
- ALS 8pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11616,” accessed on 1 September 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11616.xml