From J. D. Hooker 20 October 1873
Royal Gardens Kew
Oct 20/73.
Dear Darwin
A line only to say that I am at Nepenthes but it is a far more difficult affair than Drosera, because of the thickness of the tissues.1 The structure of the glands of the pouch below water mark is well made out & described & consists of globose glands analogous I take it to Drosera’s tops of hairs, lying in a semi-circular fold of the cuticle & half exposed. It is in these globose glands that I must look for the action.
The water is acid: it has been most carefully described by Voelcker & others & I have I find referred to many papers on anatomy of Nepenthes: my account of the species for DC. Prod. which is printed I believe, but not yet published.2
I have found rough copy & can send you a string of authors
I have written to Dublin for a Drosophyllum.
Neptunia I can get nowhere.3
The other things I will write about tomorrow.4
Ever yours affec | J D Hooker
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Candolle, Augustin Pyramus de and Candolle, Alphonse de. 1824–73. Prodromus systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis, sive enumeratio contracta ordinum generum specierumque plantarum huc usque cognitarum, juxta methodi naturalis normas digesta. 19 vols. Paris: Treuttel & Würtz [and others].
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.
Voelcker, Augustus. 1849. On the chemical composition of the fluid in the ascidia of Nepenthes. [Read 12 July 1849.] Transactions and Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh 3 (1850): 233–40. [Also published in Annals and Magazine of Natural History 2d ser. 4: 128–36.]
Voelcker, Augustus. 1850. On the watery secretion of the leaves and stems of the ice-plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L.). Annals and Magazine of Natural History 2d ser. 5: 171–3.
Summary
Describes work on Nepenthes – more difficult than Drosera.
Has written to Dublin for a Drosophyllum.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9102
- From
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Kew
- Source of text
- DAR 103: 171–2
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9102,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9102.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 21