From John Smith 8 April 1868
Royal Gardens Kew
April 8th 1868.
Sir
In reference to the fertilisation of the flowers of Victoria regia, I beg to inform you that the self fertilised flowers produced from 8, to 15. Seeds in a Capsule, flowers fertilised artificially with pollen from the same plant produced from 15 to 30. seeds in Capsule and flowers fertilised with pollen from the Chatsworth plant produced from 60, in one to 75, in a second, Capsule, and seeds much larger than either of the former.1
I am | Sir | Your Obedient Servant | John Smith
C. Darwin Esqre.
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Cross and self fertilisation: The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1876.
Desmond, Ray. 1994. Dictionary of British and Irish botanists and horticulturists including plant collectors, flower painters and garden designers. New edition, revised with the assistance of Christine Ellwood. London: Taylor & Francis and the Natural History Museum. Bristol, Pa.: Taylor & Francis.
Summary
Notes the differences in seed production between cross- and self-fertilized flowers of Victoria regia.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-6108
- From
- John Smith
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Kew
- Source of text
- DAR 76: B175
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6108,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6108.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 16