From J. D. Hooker   29 October 1876

Royal Gardens Kew

Oct 29/76.

Dear Darwin

All our Hoyas are out of flowers, & I have come across none in the many gardens which I have visited of late, but Smith is making enquiry.— A note to Gard. Chron. would no doubt be the best way to get them.1

We were at Combe bank last Sunday, & Hyacinth & I set out to walk to Down for your lunch; but the rain & winds were so thick when we got to Knockholt beeches, that we turned back.2

I am groaning over my Anniversary address, and Macmillan is pressing me for new Ed of Primer & Student’s Flora.3

Ever aff Yrs | Jos D Hooker

1
For CD’s interest in the tropical genus Hoya (the waxplant), see the letter to J. D. Hooker, 25 October [1876] and nn. 2 and 3. Hooker refers to John Smith (1821–88) and Gardeners’ Chronicle.
2
Combe Bank in Sundridge, Kent, was the home of William Spottiswoode. It is about four miles from Down House. Knockholt beeches, a stand of trees in the village of Knockholt, is about halfway between Sundridge and Down. Hooker’s wife was Hyacinth Hooker.
3
Hooker delivered the presidential address at the anniversary meeting of the Royal Society of London on 30 November 1876 (Hooker 1876b). The first edition of the botany primer was Hooker 1876a; a second edition was not published until 1880. The second edition of The student’s flora of the British Islands was published in 1878 (Hooker 1878). Both works were published by Macmillan and Co.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10658,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10658