Ɛpsilon

To Wilhelm Rimpau   16 January 1877

[Down.]

Jan. 16. 1877

Dear Sir,

I am very much obliged to you for having sent me your two essays which I shall read with the greatest interest.1 I am particularly surprised about Beta vulgaris; but you will find in my book that individuals of Reseda, although exposed to the same conditions, vary greatly in self-sterility: as do individuals of Eschscholtzia & Abutilon when they are exposed to changed conditions of life.2

With my best thanks | I remain, dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Charles Darwin.

Copy

1
CD’s annotated copies of Rimpau’s papers ‘Das Aufschießen der Runkelrüben’ (Sprouting of field beet; Rimpau 1876) and ‘Die Züchtung neuer Getreide-Varietäten’ (Cultivation of new grain varieties; Rimpau 1877a) are in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL.
2
Rimpau had observed complete self-sterility in individual flowers of Beta vulgaris (beet; Rimpau 1877a, p. 209 n.). In Cross and self fertilisation, p. 367, CD described the species as highly self-fertile. CD’s remarks on self-sterility in two species of Reseda (mignonette), Eschscholzia californica (California poppy), and Abutilon darwinii (a Brazilian species of mallow) are in ibid., pp. 340–52.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10796,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10796