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From Oswald Heer1   29 July 1877

Mein verehrter Herr!

Empfangen Sie meinen verbindlichsten Dank für die freundliche Uebersendung Ihres Werkes “the different Forms of Flowers”, welches wieder eine so reiche Fülle von wichtigen Beobachtungen enthält. Mehrere dieser Abhandlungen habe ich schon früher mit grossem Interesse gelesen, freue mich aber darauf die in dieser umgearbeiteten u. durch neue Beobachtungen erweiterten Form studieren zu können,2 was freilich erst später geschehen kann, da ich gegenwärtig sehr mit der Untersuchung der Pflanzenreste beschäftigt bin, welche Cap. Feilden bei der letzten engl. Polar expedition im Grinnell-Land bei nahe dem 82o N.Br. entdeckt hat.3 Dieselben stimmen grossentheils mit Arten überein, welche Nordenskiöld seiner Zeit am Cap Staratschin in Spitzbergen gesammelt u. die ich im zweiten Bande der Flora foss. arctica beschrieben habe; so die Taxodien, die Birke, Ulme u. Haselnuss.4 Vonbesonderm Interesse ist die Torellia rigida.5 Diese erhielt ich seiner Zeit aus Spitzbergen nur in einzelnen Bruchstücken aus denen ich das Blatt zusammengesetzt habe (Flora arct. II. Taf. VI. Fig. 3–12); aus Grinnellland liegen nun die vollständig erhaltenen Blätter vor mir, welche die früher gegebene Deutung bestätigen. Sie bilden eine eigenthümliche Gattung der Familie der Taxineen aus der Gruppe der Salisburieae und schliessen sich zunächst an die merkwürdige Gattung Phoenicopsis, die ich in der Jura Flora nachgewiesen habe (Flora foss. arct. IV. Sibirica p. 49) an; wie anderseits an Baiera. Diese Gruppe der Salisburieen hatte in der Jura-Flora die reichste Entfaltung ud. tritt uns hier in einer Reihe von Gattungen (Phoenicopsis, Baiera, Czekanovskia, Trichopytis u. Gingko) und in zahlreichen Arten entgegen; wir finden sie noch in der Kreide in Baiera u. Ginkgo; im Tertiär in Gingko u. Torellia, in der jetztigen Schöpfung aber nur noch in Gingko u. nur in einer einzigen Species (G. biloba).6 Jetzt ist diese Art auf Ostasien beschränkt, während wir die miocene Gingko-Art aus Grönland, Deutschland, Italien und von der Insel Sachalin kennen; damals war daher dieser Pflanzentypus noch weit verbreitet u. zwar in einer Art, welche der lebenden ungemein nahe verwandt ist. Torellia aber scheint auf den höchsten Norden beschränkt zu sein. Wie ich meine Arbeit vollendet werde ich einen Bericht darüber an Hooker7 einsenden.

Meinen wärmsten Dank wiederholend | Ihr [hochachtungsvollester] | Oswald Heer

Zürich 29 Juli 1877.

1
For a translation of this letter, see Appendix I.
2
Heer’s name appeared on CD’s presentation list for Forms of flowers (see Appendix IV). Forms of flowers consisted of revised versions of five of CD’s earlier papers on heterostyly, with new material on dioecy and cleistogamy. The five papers were ‘Dimorphic condition in Primula’, ‘Two forms in species of Linum’, ‘Three forms of Lythrum salicaria’, ‘Illegitimate offspring of dimorphic and trimorphic plants’, and ‘Specific difference in Primula’.
3
Henry Wemyss Feilden was naturalist on HMS Alert during the polar expedition of 1875. Grinnell Land is the central section of Ellesmere Island.
4
Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld made several voyages of Arctic exploration. See Heer 1868–83, vol. 2, ‘Die Miocene Flora und Fauna Spitzbergens’, p. 7 (papers are independently paginated). The family Taxodiaceae is now merged with Cupressaceae.
5
In Heer 1868–83, 5: 20 (‘Die Miocene Flora des Grinnell-Landes’, published in 1878), Heer noted that he had renamed Torellia as Feildenia, since Torellia had already been used as the name of a genus of molluscs.
6
In his classification, Heer divided the Coniferae into two sections, Taxineae and Taxoidieae, and placed the genus Ginkgo in Taxineae. (Ginkgo is now placed within its own class, Ginkgoopsida.) Salisburia was an alternative genus name for Ginkgo (Smith 1796), but is now considered to be illegitimate. Heer’s Salisburiae group consisted of Phoenicopsis, Baiera, Ginkgo, Trichopitys, and Czekanowskia (Heer 1868–83, 4: 48–9 (‘Contributions on the Jurassic flora of east Siberia and Amurland’)).

From Oswald Heer1   29 July 1877

My dear Sir!

Accept my most obliged thanks for kindly sending me your work “the different Forms of Flowers”, which yet again contains such a wealth of important observations. A number of these essays I had read earlier with great interest, but I look forward to being able to study them in this revised form & augmented with further observations,2 which, admittedly, cannot happen for a while, for I am presently much occupied with the examination of the plant remains which Capt. Feilden discovered in the course of the latest Engl. Polar expedition to Grinnell Land near the 82o degree N.3 These remains largely match the species that Nordenskiöld collected at Cape Staratschin in Spitsbergen & that I described in the second volume of the Flora foss. arctica; namely the Taxodiae, the birch, elm & hazelnut.4 Of special interest is Torellia rigida.5 At the time, I got it from Spitsbergen only in odd fragments from which I assembled a leaf (Flora arct. II. Pl. VI. Fig. 3–12); I now have completely preserved leaves from Grinnell Land before me that confirm my earlier interpretation. They form a distinct genus of the family Taxineae from the group Salisburiae and are in the first instance related to the remarkable genus Phoenicopsis, which as I have shown existed in the Jura flora (Flora foss. Arct. IV. Sibirica p. 49); at the same time they are related to Baiera. The group Salisburiae had its richest unfolding in the Jura flora, & there we encounter it in a series of genera (Phoenicopsis, Baiera, Czechanovskia, Trichopytis & Gingko) and in numerous species; we find them still in the Cretaceous period in Baiera & Ginkgo; in the Tertiary period in Gingko & Torellia, in the present creation however only in Gingko & only in a single species (g. biloba).6 Now this species is confined to East Asia, while we know the Miocene species of Gingko from Greenland, Germany, Italy and from the island of Sakhalin; thus, at that period this type of plant was still widespread & in fact existed as a species that is extremely closely related to that of today. Torellia, however, appears to be confined to the far north. As soon as I complete my work I will send my report on it to Hooker.7

Again my warmest thanks | Yours most respectfully | Oswald Heer

Zurich 29 July 1877.

1
For a transcription of this letter in its original German, see Transcript.
2
Heer’s name appeared on CD’s presentation list for Forms of flowers (see Appendix IV). Forms of flowers consisted of revised versions of five of CD’s earlier papers on heterostyly, with new material on dioecy and cleistogamy. The five papers were ‘Dimorphic condition in Primula’, ‘Two forms in species of Linum’, ‘Three forms of Lythrum salicaria’, ‘Illegitimate offspring of dimorphic and trimorphic plants’, and ‘Specific difference in Primula’.
3
Henry Wemyss Feilden was naturalist on HMS Alert during the polar expedition of 1875. Grinnell Land is the central section of Ellesmere Island.
4
Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld made several voyages of Arctic exploration. See Heer 1868–83, vol. 2, ‘Die Miocene Flora und Fauna Spitzbergens’, p. 7 (papers are independently paginated). The family Taxodiaceae is now merged with Cupressaceae.
5
In Heer 1868–83, 5: 20 (‘Die Miocene Flora des Grinnell-Landes’, published in 1878), Heer noted that he had renamed Torellia as Feildenia, since Torellia had already been used as the name of a genus of molluscs.
6
In his classification, Heer divided the Coniferae into two sections, Taxineae and Taxoidieae, and placed the genus Ginkgo in Taxineae. (Ginkgo is now placed within its own class, Ginkgoopsida.) Salisburia was an alternative genus name for Ginkgo (Smith 1796), but is now considered to be illegitimate. Heer’s Salisburiae group consisted of Phoenicopsis, Baiera, Ginkgo, Trichopitys, and Czekanowskia (Heer 1868–83, 4: 48–9 (‘Contributions on the Jurassic flora of east Siberia and Amurland’)).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11078,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11078