To ? 18 August [1880?]1
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | (Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.)
Augt 18th.
Dear Sir
I am much obliged for your note.2 The case is quite new to me & seems inexplicable.— I will endeavour to get the plant & at some future time observe the flowers. The information has come too late for my present work.—3
I remain Dear Sir | Yours faithfully & obliged | Charles Darwin
Footnotes
The year is conjectured on the assumption that the letter pertains to Movement in plants (see n. 3, below).
The note has not been found.
Probably Movement in plants; CD was already correcting proof-sheets for the book in August 1880 (see Correspondence vol. 28, letter to Francis Darwin, 28 July [1880]). The verso of CD’s letter contains the following note in an unknown hand: ‘Answer to a query about the movement of the flower in Dracocephalum Virginicum—’. Dracocephalum virginianum is a synonym of Physostegia virginiana, the obedient plant or false dragonhead. If a flower of this plant is bent or swivelled to a new position, it remains there for some time. The species is native to North America.
Bibliography
Movement in plants: The power of movement in plants. By Charles Darwin. Assisted by Francis Darwin. London: John Murray. 1880.
Summary
Thanks correspondent for information on a plant. It is too late for his present work.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-13289A
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Unidentified
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Harvard University, Department of Psychology
- Physical description
- ALS 1p
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13289A,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13289A.xml
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