From W. E. Darwin 24 May 1864
S.ton
May 24 64
My Dear Father,
I enclose drawings of more Menyanthes anthers,1 tho’ I am not sure whether you want them.
No’s 4 & 5 in first set of short styled anthers have double lines in part of the out-line, that is where gum on drying appeared to have contracted the anthers.2
I unfortunately put all 10 (being all the anthers from 4 separate flowers from different plants, 2 long, & 2 short) on the glass at once, so that by the time I had drawn some the others had shrunk a little. As you see in (1) flower of the long styled also, in (2) flowers of the short-styled
I also enclose drawings of Pulmonaria anthers.3 I took them all from the buds or as near buds as I could get.
You will see I have one flower of long & short marked as “hardly beginning to open” which appeared to me to be just in the same state, or if anything the long styled was the least bit more advanced.4
I am afraid I have gathered the last of the Pulmonaria except in full bloom, as it was I had a job to find buds.
Your affect. Son | W E D
I have come across an old book published at Newark in 1787 written by Robert Waring Darwin brother of Erasmus called Principia Botanica5
[Enclosure 1]6
[Enclosure 2]
[Enclosure 3]
Pulmonaria (Very small corolla) Short styled anthers open much more than either of the long styled, pollen nearly all shed |
[Enclosure 4]
Pulmonaria Long sty P. bud with anthers hardly beginning to open |
[Enclosure 5]
Pulmonaria
Long styled P (1 flower bud) anthers open. |
|
L Styled P. 1 flower bud anthers broad looking from being open and pressed on the glass |
by 1 flower bud I mean anthers from same flower and from as near a bud I could find
[Enclosure 6]
Pulmonaria
Sh Sty. P (1 flower bud) anthers hardly beginning to open |
|
Short Styled P. (1 flower bud) anthers just beginning to open |
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Darwin, Robert Waring. 1810. Principia botanica: or, a concise and easy introduction to the sexual botany of Linnæus. 3d edition. Newark, Lincolnshire: M. Hage.
Marginalia: Charles Darwin’s marginalia. Edited by Mario A. Di Gregorio with the assistance of Nicholas W. Gill. Vol. 1. New York and London: Garland Publishing. 1990.
Summary
Encloses drawings of Menyanthes and Pulmonaria anthers.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4508
- From
- William Erasmus Darwin
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Southampton
- Source of text
- DAR 110: A89–93, B48–50
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp †, 2 CD notes, diags 6pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4508,” accessed on 26 November 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4508.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 12