To George Bentham 12 July 1877
Down, Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.
July 12. 1877
My dear Mr Bentham,
I am very much obliged for your corrections about Cleistogamic Plants.— I have great confidence in Gärtner, & my statement was founded on what he says, supported by other observations. He adds that his rule does not apply to cultivated plants, & I should not expect that it would hold good with variable plants in a state of nature. As Verbascum does not I think vary much I was surprised at the case which I record. Your facts clearly show that the rule is very far from always holding good.1
My son Francis & I are trying to make out the function of bloom or waxy secretion on leaves fruit &c of plants; but I much doubt whether we shall succeed.2 It would be a guide to us if you have any decided opinion whether bloom-producing plants are more common under a hot or cold climate, under a dry (such as in Australia or the Cape of Good Hope) or rainy climate. Judging from the plants of England, the species which grow close to the sea seem to be often covered with bloom. If you can give us any hints we should be greatly obliged.
Believe me, my dear Mr Bentham | Yours sincerely | Charles Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Forms of flowers: The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1877.
Gärtner, Karl Friedrich von. 1849. Versuche und Beobachtungen über die Bastarderzeugung im Pflanzenreich. Mit Hinweisung auf die ähnlichen Erscheinungen im Thierreiche, ganz umgearbeitete und sehr vermehrte Ausgabe der von der Königlich holländischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Stuttgart: E. Schweizerbart.
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.
‘Specific difference in Primula’: On the specific difference between Primula veris, Brit. Fl. (var. officinalis of Linn.), P. vulgaris, Brit. Fl. (var. acaulis, Linn.), and P. elatior, Jacq.; and on the hybrid nature of the common oxlip. With supplementary remarks on naturally produced hybrids in the genus Verbascum. By Charles Darwin. [Read 19 March 1868.] Journal of the Linnean Society (Botany) 10 (1869): 437–54.
Summary
Thanks GB for corrections to chapter on cleistogamic flowers [Forms of flowers].
Asks for his opinion on "bloom"-producing plants in different climates.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-11049
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- George Bentham
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Bentham Correspondence, Vol. 3, Daintree–Dyer, 1830–84, GEB/1/3: f. 721)
- Physical description
- LS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11049,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11049.xml