To George Bentham 1 December [1857]
Summary
Thanks GB for his help on naturalised plants; comments on spreading of plants.
Wants to quote GB on the names of species and varieties of Silene on which C. F. von Gärtner experimented.
Thinks GB will be disappointed in his book [Natural selection]. "It will be grievously too hypothetical."
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George Bentham |
| Date: | 1 Dec [1857] |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Bentham Correspondence, Vol. 3, Daintree–Dyer, 1830–1884, GEB/1/3: ff. 682–3) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2177 |
To George Bentham 15 December [1857]
Summary
For his studies on fertility of crosses, asks GB to mark a list of pairs of Cucubalus as to whether they are varieties of the same species, or distinct species.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George Bentham |
| Date: | 15 Dec [1857] |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Bentham Correspondence, Vol. 3, Daintree–Dyer, 1830–1884, GEB/1/3: f. 681 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2184 |
To George Bentham 18 December [1857]
Summary
Thanks GB for his answers [to 2184], which were as explicit as he expected. Cucubalus viscosus and italicus are extremely sterile together; all other forms extremely fertile. Other instances of infertility found by Gärtner.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George Bentham |
| Date: | 18 Dec [1857] |
| Classmark: | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Bentham Correspondence, Vol. 3, Daintree–Dyer, 1830–1884, GEB/1/3: f. 700a) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2189 |
From George Bentham [16 or 17 December 1857]
Summary
Returns CD’s lists [sent with 2184]. Confusion in genera of Silene is great in continental botanic gardens. One would have to know whether C. F. v. Gärtner had the right names for species in his experiments.
| Author: | George Bentham |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [16 or 17 Dec 1857] |
| Classmark: | DAR 160: 151 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2186 |
| letter | (4) |
| Bentham, George | (3) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (1) |
