From Daniel Oliver [26 March 1863]1
Royal Gardens Kew
Thursday
My dear Sir
I shall be glad of a sight of the monstrous ovaries of Primula.2 The true character of the free placenta is not thoroughly understood—indeed Caspary3 regards the ‘pistil’ as not homologous with the pistil (carpels) of other plants but as ‘procarpels’ the true carpels being reduced to the funiculus & integuments of the ovules. Rather an absurd view.— But what we want is something better to connect this free placenta of Primula with the marginal placentaln. of other angiospermous ovaries.
I shall call at the New Conservatory this P.M. for flowers of Edwardsia 4
Ever Sincerely yours | D Oliver
Footnotes
Bibliography
Caspary, Robert. 1861. Vergrünungen der Blüthe des weissen Klees. Schriften der Königlichen Physikalisch-ökonomische Gesellschaft zu Königsberg 2 (1863): 51–72.
Summary
Discusses the female parts of the Primula flower; the true character of the free placenta is not completely understood.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3894
- From
- Daniel Oliver
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Kew
- Source of text
- DAR 173: 18
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3894,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3894.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 11