Ɛpsilon

To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer   26 October [1875]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

Oct. 26

My dear Dyer

I am very glad that you think Dr. King’s notes worth sending to Linn. Socy.2 If I understand the case rightly, the Imant. Cyrtanthiflorum, which I have got from Kew is a hybrid, but that there is also a true I. cyrtanthiflorum. I certainly ought to possess the latter for my experiments, if you have no scruple in getting a plant from M J. Henderson.3

Please thank Hooker for the seeds which are a treasure to Frank.4 I have despatched Pfeiffer to Linn. Socy.5

Many thanks for the paper on Thallophytes which you were so kind as to send me.—6 I have begun reading it with great interest, as it is almost all new to me.—

Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 22 October 1875.
2
No letter from Thiselton-Dyer mentioning George King’s notes has been found, but see the letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 22 October 1875 and n. 1.
3
CD had already asked Thiselton-Dyer for one of the parent species of the hybrid Imantophyllum cyrtanthiflorum (a synonym of Clivia × cyrtanthiflora), Clivia nobilis (see letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 22 October 1875 and n. 3). According to entries in the Outwards book (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew), a plant of Clivia nobilis (green-tip forest lily) was sent to CD on 26 October 1875 and a plant of I. cyrtanthiflorum on 22 November 1875. The synonymy of what is referred to in this letter as a ‘true I. cyrtanthiflorum’ is uncertain, but CD may have misunderstood what Thiselton-Dyer had told him. John Andrew Henderson was a nurseryman .
4
In his letter of 23 October 1875, Joseph Dalton Hooker had promised to send a specimen of grass seed from India for Francis Darwin’s experiments with awned seeds.
5
See letter from J. D. Hooker, 23 October 1875 and n. 4. CD donated his copy of Ludwig Pfeiffer’s Nomenclator botanicus (Pfeiffer 1873–4) to the library of the Linnean Society.
6
Thiselton-Dyer had sent a copy of his study on the classification and sexual reproduction of thallophytes (Thiselton-Dyer 1875). CD’s copy is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL. Thallophyta is a former division of plants that originally included algae, lichens, and fungi.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 Kent.] before del ‘Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.’
1.3 also] interl
1.5 Henderson.] point after del comma
2.1 Please] after del ‘if you have no scruple in getting one.’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10227,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10227