From W. T. Thiselton-Dyer   6 June 1876

Royal Gardens Kew | Kew,

June 6. 76

Dear Mr Darwin

Crüger’s Coryanthes was C. macrantha of which the best figure is I think that in Paxton’s magazine vol 5 p. 31.1 I believe they have this at the Linnean Society, but if not I do not doubt that Dr Hooker2 would allow me to send it you. The figure is not so distinct in its details as it might be but with a little study a good drawing may be made from it.

The best illustrations of any species are those of Coryanthes Feildingii in the Journal of the Horticultural Society vol. iii (1848) pp. 16. 17.

With the help of these Paxton’s figure will be found more intelligible.

There is also a figure of C. speciosa in Lindley’s Vegetable Kingdom p. 183 d

The meeting at the Linnean Society the other night was taken up with a tiresome and interminable paper on phyllotaxis and your son’s most interesting communication was hardly done justice to.3 A discussion on some of his points would have been very instructive, but for this there was no time

Believe me | Yours very truly | W. T. Thiselton Dyer

CD annotations

1.2 Paxton’s magazine vol 5 p. 31.] underl red crayon
2.1 Journal … 16. 17. 2.2] underl red crayon
1
The letter to which this is a reply has not been found. In Orchids 2d ed., pp. 173–5, CD added a passage discussing Hermann Crüger’s observations on Coryanthes (bucket orchids), illustrated with a woodcut of C. speciosa taken from John Lindley’s Vegetable kingdom (J. Lindley 1853, p. 183d). He listed other figures, and thanked Thiselton-Dyer for providing references to them, in Orchids 2d ed., p. 175 n. Crüger’s observations were published in a paper communicated to the Linnean Society by CD (Crüger 1864; see Correspondence vol. 12, letter from Hermann Crüger, 21 January 1864). The illustration in Paxton’s Magazine is from 1838.
3
Francis Darwin’s paper on the glandular bodies on Acacia spaerocephala and Cecropia peltata (F. Darwin 1876d) was read at the Linnean Society on 1 June 1876. It was preceded by George Henslow’s paper ‘On the origin of floral æstivations. With notes on the structure of the cruciferous flower, on that of Adoxa, and on the corolla of Primula’ (Henslow 1876a). Aestivation is, in one botanical meaning, the folding of flowers in the bud.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10534,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10534