Sends address.
Showing 1–20 of 25 items
The Charles Darwin Collection
The Darwin Correspondence Project is publishing letters written by and to the naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882). Complete transcripts of letters are being made available through the Project’s website (www.darwinproject.ac.uk) after publication in the ongoing print edition of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin (Cambridge University Press 1985–). Metadata and summaries of all known letters (c. 15,000) appear in Ɛpsilon, and the full texts of available letters can also be searched, with links to the full texts.
Sends address.
Extracts from botanical literature dealing with Dionaea, intercrossing, and sensitivity. [Bot. Ztg. (1833): 96; Thomas Nuttall, Genera of N. American plants (1818)].
Requests observations on Drosera and Dionaea,
and asks DO to look up Buchanan and Wight on insectivorous plants ["Conspectus of Indian Utricularia", Hooker’s J. Bot. 1 (1849): 372–4].
Thanks for reference to Annales des Sciences Naturelles.
Requests DO observe rate at which Australian Drosera closes.
On detection of nitrogen in organic fluids.
CD’s observations on preference of Drosera for milk and nitrogenous fluids, and the effect of nitrate of ammonia are interesting. Asks whether CD is satisfied that the effect is not due to density of fluid or to a chemical irritant. His own observations suggest such possibilities.
Lists of nitrogenous organic fluids that produce contraction in Drosera, and details of how to reproduce results.
His results with pure gum on Drosera spathulata entirely support CD’s opinion. Other observations on insectivorous plants.
Delighted to try experiments on Drosera spathulata.
A poser: carbonate of soda produces inflection rather than contraction in Drosera. Possible solution: glands at end of hairs absorb as well as secrete. Fascinated by currents in cells after inflection.
Requests Dionaea now that he knows Drosera so well. Wants to compare fluids secreted; in Drosera they are acid and have antiseptic effect on meat.
Requests DO apply carbonate of ammonia to sensitive hair of Dionaea and measure reaction time. Wants to compare Drosera and Dionaea.
Has examined nearly all British orchids.
Hooker’s error on Listera.
Change in colour and consistency of Drosera hair glands after leaf inflection. Analogous structures in Dionaea. Requests Oliver confirm these observations on live plants, of which he has none.
In a muddle over the effects of salts on insectivorous plants.
Thanks for information and extracts.
M. A. Curtis, quoted in ["Dionaea"] Penny encyclopedia [(1837) 8: 508], gives the only full account of Dionaea.
Concurs in DO’s explanation of Dionaea footstalk cells, which CD took for stomata.
Is using carbonate of ammonia as a substitute for flies and colour change in glands as index of action on Drosera. Suspects other nitrogenous compounds do not act till decomposed into carbonate of ammonia. Beginning to write Drosera paper. Action of nitrogenous compounds.
The best way to see cell movement in Drosera hair, is to cut off those lately inflected over a fly, sketch shape of red matter under high power, and repeat after one or two minutes.
Will take Natural History Review, but cannot write for it.
Has mass of notes on irritability in orchids,
but he ought to work on Variation.
Drosera was an interlude while away from home. Expectations for effect of carbonate of ammonia on Dionaea. The important phenomenon in Drosera is the segregation of the red fluid within the leaf, not action of carbonate of ammonia on the red fluid.
Compliments DO on his wealth of information.
Henrietta’s relapse.
Thanks for extract on Drosera.
Admires DO’s correlation of spiny tree species and dry hot climate. CD suggests that spines, like strange aroma of desert plants, protect against browsing where there are few plants.
Fragrance and unisexuality.
Dimorphism in Viola tricolor.
Thinks he has worked out simple mechanism of movement in Drosera. Believes he is correct that gum has no effect.
Thanks for Trécul paper ["Organisation des glandes pédicellées de la feuille du Drosera rotundifolia", C. R. Hebd. Acad. Sci. 40: 1355–8; Ann. Sci. Nat. (Bot.) 3d ser. 3: 303–11].
Chloroform paralyses plants in 30 seconds.
Quotes note by Julius Milde on Drosera rotundifolia from Botanische Zeitung (1852): 540.
DO’s candidacy for Professorship of Botany [at University College, London].
Henrietta’s health is better.
Paper in Botanische Zeitung [T. Nitschke, "Über die Reizbarkeit der Blätter von Drosera rotundifolia", 18: 229–34, 237–45, 245–50] missed leading point that plants close longer over animal substances. Carbonate of ammonia works on Lemna and Euphorbia roots.