Search: Darwin, C. R. in correspondent 
1850-1859::1857::03 in date 
Gray, Asa in addressee 
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From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Asa Gray
Date:
[after 15 Mar 1857]
Source of text:
Archives of the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University (8)
Summary:

Urges AG to generalise from his observations on the flora of the northern U. S.

Expected to find separation of sexes in trees because he believes all living beings require an occasional cross, and none is perpetually self-fertilising. The multitude of flowers of a tree would be an obstacle to cross-fertilisation unless the sexes tended to be separate.

The Leguminosae are CD’s greatest opposers; he cannot find that garden varieties ever cross. Could AG inquire of intelligent nurserymen on the subject?

Thanks AG for information on protean genera; much wants to know whether their great variability is due to their conditions of existence or is innate in them at all times and places.

Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project