From John Gibbs   20 February 1877

Dear Sir

I took occasion of your kindness in sending me your work on the Fertilisation of Orchids to write a notice of it for the Chelmsford Chronicle of last Friday a copy of which I took the liberty to send you by post.¹ In a letter which I wrote you the week before last I mentioned the fact of my having corresponded with Pr. Balfour about Inflorescences.² That is a subject which I consider interesting in connection with the Variation of Plants inasmuch as the character of a seedling is influenced by the position on the peduncle of the flower which gave origin to the seed.

The seeds of the sunflower which grow near the middle of the capitulum produce plants shorter and more bushy than those from seeds nearer the circumference. But the modes of inflorescence are so various in different plants that I have no idea whether the fact I have stated represents any general rule or not. Flowers of Vinca minor³ are always unilateral on the stem except when they are obviously terminal yet this plant is taken by eminently good botanists as an illustration of the simplest form of axillary inflorescence.

I have some little reason for suspecting that plants proceeding from seeds that lie uppermost in the capsule of Lychnis Githago⁴ flower sooner than those from seeds lower down in the same capsule.

Trusting the above observations will be sufficiently interesting for you not to think I have wasted my time in writing them | I remain | Dear Sir | yours very respectfully | John Gibbs

To | C. Darwin Esq^re