From George Bentham [16 or 17 December 1857]1
My dear Sir
I return the lists.2 But in questions where Gærtner may have obtained unexpected results in hybridising one would require to know whether he has got the right species under h⟨is⟩ names for the confusion in ⟨ ⟩ genera as Silene is very great in Continental botanic gardens
One often sees Silene nutans italica inflata and a few others doing duty for dozens of tender ones which have died. Silene vespertina is one which we used to grow in our flower gardens ⟨as⟩ S. bipartita. It is a very common Mediterranean seacoast plant. S. noctiflora is a cornfield annual which we have sometimes in England S. viscosa (Cucubalus viscosus Linn) is in the way of Italica but I believe ⟨ ⟩ species from the ⟨ ⟩ central Asia
Yours very sincerely | George Bentham
Footnotes
Bibliography
Gärtner, Karl Friedrich von. 1849. Versuche und Beobachtungen über die Bastarderzeugung im Pflanzenreich. Mit Hinweisung auf die ähnlichen Erscheinungen im Thierreiche, ganz umgearbeitete und sehr vermehrte Ausgabe der von der Königlich holländischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Stuttgart: E. Schweizerbart.
Summary
Returns CD’s lists [sent with 2184]. Confusion in genera of Silene is great in continental botanic gardens. One would have to know whether C. F. v. Gärtner had the right names for species in his experiments.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2186
- From
- George Bentham
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- unstated
- Source of text
- DAR 160: 151
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp damaged †, CD lists 2pp damaged † (by GB), CD note damaged
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2186,” accessed on 19 October 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2186.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 6