From J. D. Hooker 7 September 1881
Royal Gardens Kew
Septr. 7/81.
Dear Darwin
Can you kindly get me some more tubers of Herminium, for the Comte de Paris, who grows Orchids (terrestrial) marvellously—1 He tells me that Ophrys bombylifera is the only species of the genus that increases with him: (we find Herminium to increase with us) all the rest & most other species gradually die out— He is a perfect enthusiast, collects wherever he goes, & he tells me that he has at Chateau d’Eu 10,000 plants in flower in May (of terrestrial Orchids—) he has not Herminium at all!—2
The tubers you sent me 2 years ago have increased well, & form a beautiful patch, but I do not like to disturb it— The count tells me that he has found Herminium but so rare that he refrained from disturbing it & so has it not in his garden & as he has sent me 100 tubers of Ophrys bombylifera I should like in return to send him some Herminium from you, who he admires hugely.
Your criticism anent Southern glacial Epoch is just— my lone statement was due to hasty condensation of matter.3 What I should have said, and did originally in MS was,—that from the appearance of Antarctic plants on mountains north of their home,—a glacial period might be inferred, as proved on astronomical & geological grounds or something to that effect.
I have heard that Skertchly is a loose observer, but I should much like to know what he has written on peat bogs—though I am so overwhelmed with work that I doubt if I could read it.4
Yes I do hope to live to work out the relations of the southern Temperate floras—5 I do wish I could throw off my official duties here; I am getting so weary of them; & Dyer does them so well; but I could not nearly afford it yet6
There is a tremendously interesting point to be worked out in Azores, viz—huge trunks of Cypresses are found there buried in the ground, yet the Cypress is extinct in the Island.— there must be other preserved plants where these trunks are found. Whether or no, the history of these trunks wants clearing up.7
I shall be very glad to see the mountain plants & name them for your friend— I think 3500 is the greatest Azorean altitude.8
Lubbock did capitally well at the Association.9
Ever yrs | J D Hooker
Dyer & Smith have both just started for their holidays.10
Footnotes
Bibliography
‘Fertilization of orchids’: Notes on the fertilization of orchids. By Charles Darwin. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 4th ser. 4 (1869): 141–59. [Collected papers 2: 138–56.]
Germain de Saint-Pierre, Ernest. 1876. La collection d’orchidées des latitudes tempérées, cultivées dans les jardins du Chateau d’Eu.— Fleur monstrueuses, observées dans cette collection, sur plusieurs pieds d’Ophrys aranifera specularia. Bulletin de la Société botanique de France 23: xxxvi–xl (Session extraordinaire).
Góis Marques, Carlos A. and Menezes de Sequeira, Miguel. 2015. Darwin, Hooker and Arruda Furtado and the palaeobotany of Azores: rediscovering the first collections. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 221: 47–51.
LL: The life and letters of Charles Darwin, including an autobiographical chapter. Edited by Francis Darwin. 3 vols. London: John Murray. 1887–8.
Lubbock, John. 1881a. President’s address. Report of the 51st Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, held at York (1881): 1–51.
Summary
Comte de Paris requests an orchid from CD for his huge collection.
JDH responds to CD’s criticism of York address.
Arruda Furtado could work on mystery of buried cypress trunks in the Azores.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-13320
- From
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Kew
- Source of text
- DAR 104: 168–9
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13320,” accessed on 25 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13320.xml
