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Darwin Correspondence Project

To D. F. Nevill   6 April [1876–82]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

April 6th

Dear Lady Dorothy Nevill

I received the flowers of the Darlingtonia which you were so kind as to order to be sent me this morning.—2 It is a most curious flower, & I cannot pretend to understand its manner of fertilisation.— I am very much obliged for your kind invitation, which I regret it is impossible for me to accept.—3

I remain your Ladyship’s | Truly obliged | Charles Darwin

Footnotes

The date range is established by the form of printed address, which CD used from November 1874 until his death on 19 April 1882. The letter could not have been written in 1875 because CD was away from Down on 6 April 1875 (CD’s ‘Journal’ (DAR 158)).
Darlingtonia is the monospecific genus of California pitcher-plants. CD borrowed a plant from Kew at the end of January 1879; he returned it on 4 February (see Correspondence vol. 27, letters to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 25 January [1879] and 3 February 1879).
The invitation has not been found.

Summary

Received Darlingtonia; cannot explain its fructification.

Declines invitation.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-9915
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Dorothy Fanny Walpole/Dorothy Fanny Nevill
Sent from
Down
Source of text
Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection)
Physical description
ALS 1p

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9915,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9915.xml

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