From Berthold Carl Seemann 24 April 1862
22. Canonbury Square | London N.
April 24, 1862
Dear Sir.
That passage to which you allude in your letter I have copied out for your information. It is found in Botany of the Voyage of H.M.S. Herald. p. 67. (4to. London. 1852–57.).1
I also enclose a prospectus of a new work I am going to bring out, if a sufficient number of subscribers be forthcoming.2 I understood Dr. Hooker to say that you were deeply interested in an exploration of the Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands; and had offered to give £50 to anyone attempting it in a thoroughly scientific manner.3 It has always been my ardent wish to investigate the Flora of the South sea, and publish a good synopsis of it, and I have made up my mind to do, as soon as I have placed all the information accumulated during my last trip upon record, which I find some difficulty in doing as I have no assistance from Government, and was so ill paid during the time I was engaged in the Fiji’s that I lost a good deal of money by my trip.4
As a preliminary to a Flora of Polynesia I am preparing a list of all the plants known from there.5
Yours very truly | Berthold Seemann.
More than five years ago I adopted as my motto a passage from your book. ‘A traveller should be a botanist, for in all views plants form the chief embellishment’.6
I adopted it my Botany of the Herald,7 and many people have agreed with you in thinking that without botanical knowledge it is impossible to describe scenery with any approach to correctness. | B S
[Enclosure]8
“Mountains exceeding 2000 feet in elevation, situated principally in Western Veraguas, possess a vegetation which resembles in many respects that of the Mexican highlands;9 one in which the forms of the torrid region are harmoniously blended with those of the temperate. Alders and Blackberries are found with Fuchsias and Salvias; the common Brake10 grows in company with Lupins and Ageratums; Oaks and Palms are intermigled; fine large flowers are abundant. The genera represented are: Styrax, Rondeletia, Salvia, Lopezia, Fuchsia, Centradenia, Ageratum, Conostegia, Lupinus, Hypericum, Freziera, Galium, Smilax, Euphorbia, Rhopala,11 Equisetum, Clematis, Chorisia,12 Verbena, Condaminea, Inga, Solanum, etc. The Oaks, like most tropical ones, are scarcely higher than 30 feet, resembing neither in size nor in grandeur those which our heathen forefathers worshipped; their branches are smooth and devoid of that rugged appearance which renders those of the northern species so picturesque.”
Extracted from Berthold Seemanns Botany of the Voyage of H.M.S. Herald. p. 67. (London. 1852–1857. Quarto. 484 pages, and 100 plates.).13
NB. The oaks here alluded to are: Quercus Seemanni, Lieb., Q. bumelioides. Liebm., and Q: Warscewiczii14 Liebm.
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Columbia gazetteer of the world: The Columbia gazetteer of the world. Edited by Saul B. Cohen. 3 vols. New York: Columbia University Press. 1998.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Journal of researches: Journal of researches into the geology and natural history of the various countries visited by HMS Beagle, under the command of Captain FitzRoy, RN, from 1832 to 1836. By Charles Darwin. London: Henry Colburn. 1839.
Origin 4th ed.: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. 4th edition, with additions and corrections. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1866.
Origin: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859.
Seemann, Berthold Carl. 1852–7. The botany of the voyage of HMS Herald … during the years 1845–51. London: Lovell Reeve.
Seemann, Berthold Carl. 1862. Viti: an account of a government mission to the Vitian or Fijian Islands in the year 1860–1. Cambridge and London. [Vols. 9,10]
Seemann, Berthold Carl. 1865–73. Flora Vitiensis: a description of the plants of the Viti or Fiji islands, with an account of their history, uses, and properties. London: L. Reeve and Co.
Summary
Encloses a passage from his book, The botany of the voyage of H.M.S. "Herald" [1852–7].
Discusses possibility of publishing work on flora of Hawaiian Islands.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3518
- From
- Berthold Carl Seemann
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- London, Canonbury Square, 22
- Source of text
- DAR 177: 130, DAR 50: E28
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp encl 1p
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3518,” accessed on 25 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3518.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 10 and 13 (Supplement)