From W. C. Williamson   19 January 1878

Fallowfield | Manchester

Jan. 19/78

My Dear Darwin

Though my crop of Drosera spathulata has grown so steadily the plants are all still D. rotundifolia—1 I forgot to tell you that though my old p⁠⟨⁠  ⁠⟩⁠ seeded so freely, it n⁠⟨⁠ever⁠⟩⁠ opened its flowers. ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ one solitary flower— on a long spike expanded its pink petals— In all the rest the tips of those unfolded petals alone shewed themselves beyond the un⁠⟨⁠op⁠⟩⁠ened sepals—yet each ovary was crammed full of fertile seeds—

Will you congratulate your son, for me, on ⁠⟨⁠hi⁠⟩⁠s magnificent demonstration ⁠⟨⁠that⁠⟩⁠ these plants, like mankind generally, flourish best on Beef & Mutton!2 His position appears to me to be unassailable

I hope to have the pleasure of shaking hands with you once more in a short time. Early in March my wife & I have promised to spend a Sunday with the Lubbocks wh⁠⟨⁠en⁠⟩⁠ I hope your health w⁠⟨⁠ill⁠⟩⁠ assume one of its be⁠⟨⁠tter⁠⟩⁠ conditions.3

I am ever y⁠⟨⁠ours⁠⟩⁠ | W. C. Wil⁠⟨⁠liamson⁠⟩⁠

Whenever the leaves of my Droseræ change into their “spathulate” condition I will take care to send you a plant or plants that you may watch their transition4

I have just received communication from Lesquereux. He has found in the Cincinnati Lower Silurians, true ⁠⟨⁠L⁠⟩⁠epidodendroid stems—Sphenophylla—Annulariæ, and the Devonian genus ⁠⟨⁠P⁠⟩⁠silophyton— Add this to Saporta’s ⁠⟨⁠Si⁠⟩⁠lurian Fern. Are we going to have ⁠⟨⁠an⁠⟩⁠ unchanged Flora from the ⁠⟨⁠bas⁠⟩⁠e of the silurians to the summit ⁠⟨⁠of⁠⟩⁠ the Carboniferous beds? it ⁠⟨⁠looks⁠⟩⁠ like it!5

1
In 1877, Williamson had sent CD specimens showing that in its early stages, Drosera spatulata (spoon-leaved sundew; spathulata is a common misspelling) resembled D. rotundifolia (common or round-leaved sundew; Correspondence vol. 25, letters to W. C. Williamson, 22 October [1877] and 24 October [1877], and letter from W. C. Williamson, 23 October 1877).
2
Francis Darwin’s paper ‘Experiments on the nutrition of Drosera rotundifolia’ (F. Darwin 1878a) had been read at the Linnean Society on 17 January 1878.
3
John and Ellen Frances Lubbock lived at High Elms, Down. There is no record of Williamson and his wife, Annie Copley Williamson, visiting Down House in 1878, nor is there a record of their visiting the Lubbocks in John Lubbock’s diary (British Library MS ADD 62680).
5
In Lesquereux 1877, Leo Lesquereux described a number of fossil plants found in Silurian beds in North America, including Psilophytum (a synonym of Psilophyton), which he said was a primitive and diminutive type of Lepidodendron (an extinct tree-like plant from the Carboniferous; Lesquereux 1877, p. 172). Gaston de Saporta described a fern found in Silurian beds in France in Saporta 1877a. Williamson was publishing a series of articles on fossil plants from the Carboniferous in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London (Williamson 1871–92). Sphenophylla and Annulariae are slips for Sphenophyllum and Annularia; both are in the class Equisetopsida.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11326,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11326