Thanks for mentioning J. G. Kurr on nectaries [Untersuchungen über die Bedeutung der Nektarien in den Blumen (1833)]. Requests observations on flowers with curved pistils. Finds they curve toward nectary, thus lying in path of insect.
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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.
Thanks for mentioning J. G. Kurr on nectaries [Untersuchungen über die Bedeutung der Nektarien in den Blumen (1833)]. Requests observations on flowers with curved pistils. Finds they curve toward nectary, thus lying in path of insect.
Praise for DO’s paper on Hamamelidaceae ["On Sycopis", Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. 23 (1862): 83–9, read 15 Mar 1860]. Everything points to its being a "bankrupt" family.
Hydropathy at Malvern may take him from Drosera. Requests Dionaea and Cypripedium.
CD will publish on Primula [Collected papers 2: 45–63]. Will DO ask W. H. Fitch to make woodcuts of "pin" and "non-pin" primroses [i.e., long-styled and short-styled forms]? Encloses a sketch.
CD never dreamed primroses did not abound with DO; apologises for trouble and sends flowers.
Will repay DO for cost of Cypripedium and for the Dionaea, if any can be got.
Primula sibirica seems to be the only non-dimorphic species. Has made over one hundred Primula crosses.
Regrets Henslow’s illness.
Congratulations on DO’s marriage.
Thanks W. H. Fitch for drawing for the Primula paper. Death of experimental plants delays publication.
Requests that exotic species of Vinca, which never set seed at Kew, be fertilised by pressing a fine bristle between anthers as a moth would its proboscis.
Asks that Primula farinosa be sent.
Has put Drosera off while amusing himself with Primula and orchids.
Dionaea is prettily adapted to weight detection.
Asks DO to look for nectar in Stanhopea saccata labellum. CD’s theory predicts nectar should be present, but afraid there is none.
Requests that DO examine enclosed microscope slides of Acropera ovules, to confirm CD’s opinion that females are non-functional.
Can DO comment on disagreement between Robert Brown and John Lindley over the number of Acropera carpels?
O. Heer’s Atlantis theory vs CD’s hypothesis of a migration north during warm periods.
Trusts DO’s opinion on Acropera ovules.
Asks DO to identify enclosed Fumaria or Corydalis flower, with springing hood adaptation.
Thanks for "multitudinous" references.
Thanks Hooker for orchids.