From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Gardeners’ Chronicle
Date:
[late Aug 1843]
Source of text:
Gardeners’ Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette , no. 36, 9 September 1843, p. 628
Summary:
Sends some examples of Gentiana that he thinks may shed light on the origin of double flowers. Since specimens grew in sterile soil their double flowering cannot be attributed to excess food. CD advances the hypothesis that some change in natural conditions causes sterility, which then causes compensatory development of petals, the organs closest in morphology to those whose functions have been checked.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project