To A. W. Bennett 22 September [1874]1
Down. | Beckenham, Kent.
Sept. 22nd.
Dear Sir.
I thank you for your kindness.— Prof. Hoffmann generally sends me his papers. but oddly I cannot remember whether I have seen the two sent by you—2 I shall however no doubt, remember when I look at them, which I will do in the course of a week or so. & I will then return them to you, as I presume you want them back. With respect to Drosera & Pinguicula. I imagine that you refer to cells with spiral lines, just like the spiral vessels & which surprised me much; but I shall hear from Hooker.—3 I do not think these spiral cells are connected with digestion, as they occur (as far as I have seen) only towards the margin of the leaves in Pinguicula & not at all in Dionæa— But I am scandalously ignorant of histology— These cells were described in the Glands of Drosera by Trécul & Groemland many years ago in Annales des Sc: Nat:4
With many thanks | Yours very faithfully. | Ch. Darwin.
P.S. Looking at your notice again I think I know to what you refer. In Drosera they have the power of absorption; in Pinguicula both of secretion & absorption.— Speaking from memory I think they differ a good deal in Structure in the 2 genera
Footnotes
Bibliography
Grönland, Johannes. 1855. Note sur les organes glanduleux du genre Drosera. Annales des sciences naturelles (botanique) 4th ser. 3: 297–303.
Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.
Trécul, Auguste. 1855. Organisation des glandes pédicellées des feuilles du Drosera rotundifolia. Annales des sciences naturelles (botanique) 4th ser. 3: 303–11.
Summary
Thanks for sending papers by Hermann Hoffmann.
Discusses spiral cells in Drosera and Pinguicula.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9653
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Alfred William Bennett
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 143: 84
- Physical description
- C 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9653,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9653.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 22