From T. H. Farrer 4 May 1879
Abinger Hall, | Dorking. | (Gomshall S.E.R. | Station & Telegraph.)
4 May/79
My dear Mr Darwin
If you have not got your Coronilla it is not poor Paynes fault who has been laid up like every one else with influenza, and danger of worse—1 However I hope he will now soon be about again. The place does not seem itself without him. We leave tomorrow just as the skies are brightening
I am struck this year by the amazing variations of the hardy primulas—of which we have a great number— From polyanthus and cowslip to primrose there is every gradation—2 Umbel and no umbel, often on the same plant: large flowers & small ones some: every gradation of colour from deepest browns & reds to palest yellow: sometimes even the dusty auricula tone: calyx changing into corolla: and corolla and calyx changing into leaf— they seem to confound every attempt at definition or description.
I suppose this is the bees work amongst our native primroses & imported polyanthuses— I suppose too this is a disturbance we have effected with our new polyanthuses; and that in course of time all would settle again into the stable equilibrium of natural species.
But it is curious to see what a variable race the primulas are.
Sincerely yours | T H Farrer
Footnotes
Bibliography
‘Dimorphic condition in Primula’: On the two forms, or dimorphic condition, in the species of Primula, and on their remarkable sexual relations. By Charles Darwin. [Read 21 November 1861.] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society (Botany) 6 (1862): 77–96. [Collected papers 2: 45–63.]
Farrer, Thomas Henry. 1874. Fertilisation of papilionaceous flowers—Coronilla. Nature, 2 July 1874, pp. 169–70.
‘Specific difference in Primula’: On the specific difference between Primula veris, Brit. Fl. (var. officinalis of Linn.), P. vulgaris, Brit. Fl. (var. acaulis, Linn.), and P. elatior, Jacq.; and on the hybrid nature of the common oxlip. With supplementary remarks on naturally produced hybrids in the genus Verbascum. By Charles Darwin. [Read 19 March 1868.] Journal of the Linnean Society (Botany) 10 (1869): 437–54.
Summary
Is struck by the amazing variations of the hardy Primula varieties.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-12031
- From
- Thomas Henry Farrer, 1st baronet and 1st Baron Farrer
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Abinger Hall
- Source of text
- DAR 164: 92
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12031,” accessed on 14 August 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-12031.xml