From George Henry Kendrick Thwaites 17 February 1863
Peradenia, Ceylon
17th Feby 1863
My dear Mr. Darwin,
It gives me very sincere pleasure to be able to gratify the wishes expressed in your welcome and interesting letter of the 29th. Decr.1 and let me, in the first place, thank you for the information respecting the dimorphism of Cinchona. I shall not fail to act upon it when our plants come into flower.2
Dimorphism would appear to be common in the Rubiaceæ, & there would seem to be every degree of it as regards development of stamens & pistil in the respective flowers: In the genus Discospermum the ♂ flowers are always barren, though the ovary contains about 2 abortive ovules in each loculis, & it must have been from the examination of one of these that the genus Diplospora (synonymous with Discospermum) was constituted; The ovary of the ♀ flower contains several ovules.3
I send you in weak spirits the two forms of flowers of Limnanthemum Indicum, Enum.—p. 2054 (hand Grisebr)—L. Kleinianum & L. Wightianum, Grisebr.)5 The pollen is alike in both forms and I find the same number of ovules (70–80) in the ovaries of both. I have not had an
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Forms of flowers: The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1877.
Grisebach, August Heinrich Rudolph. 1845. Gentianaceae. In vol. 9, pp. 39–141, of Prodromus systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis, by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle and Alphonse de Candolle. Paris: Fortin, Masson & Sociorum.
Index Kewensis: Index Kewensis: plantarum phanerogamarum, nomina et synonyma omnium generum et specierum … nomine recepto auctore patria unicuique plantae subjectis. 4 vols., and 20 supplements. Compiled by Benjamin Daydon Jackson, et al. Oxford: Clarendon Press; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 1893–1996.
Thwaites, George Henry Kendrick. 1858–64. Enumeratio plantarum Zeylaniæ: an enumeration of Ceylon plants, with descriptions of the new and little-known genera and species, observations on their habits, uses, native names, etc. Assisted in the identification of the species and synonymy by J. D. Hooker. 5 pts. London: William Pamplin; Dulau & Co.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Replies to CD’s letter: dimorphism common in Ceylon Rubiaceae. [See Forms of flowers, p. 286.]
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3994
- From
- George Henry Kendrick Thwaites
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Peradeniya, Ceylon
- Source of text
- DAR 109: A94
- Physical description
- inc ††
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3994,” accessed on 29 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3994.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 11