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To A. S. Wilson   23 February 1878

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Feb: 23. 1878

Dear Sir

I am obliged to you for having kindly sent me the first specimen ever manufactured of Ægilops flour.1 I suppose M. Godron’s explanation was correct, and that M. Fabre’s stock was hybridised by wheat.2 About 30 years ago I cultivated Ægilops, but could see no trace of change.3 If you could spare me a few grains in their husks I should much like to observe what you describe of the difficulty of the radicles in finding an exit.4 A dozen grains would amply suffice. I have read several of your papers with much interest, and hope that you will continue your experiments, as there are so few in Britain who experimentize on plants. I cannot avoid differing from you on some points, for instance on the pollen from the exserted anthers of wheat being useless.5 I was pleased to find the other day that Herr Rimpau concludes that the different varieties of wheat behave very differently with respect to self-fertilisation, and I think he has proved that some varieties are cross-fertilised; for this was the conclusion at which I roughly arrived many years ago.6 If you have not seen & would like to see Rimpau’s papers from a German periodical—giving the results of his experiments—I believe I could find them and should have much pleasure in lending them you.7

Pray believe me, dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Charles Darwin

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2
In Variation 1: 313 n., CD had discussed the interpretation of Esprit Fabre’s conclusion in Fabre 1855, p. 175, that Aegilops ovata (a synonym of A. geniculata, ovate goatgrass) was the original ancestor of wheat (Triticum sativum). He referred to Dominique Alexandre Godron’s experiments, described in Godron 1859, 1: 169, which showed that Aegilops triticoides was a hybrid between wheat and A. ovata, and concluded: ‘The frequency with which these hybrids spontaneously arise, and the gradual manner in which the Æ. triticoides becomes converted into true wheat, alone leave any doubt on the subject’.
3
In 1856, CD had grown Aegilops from seeds obtained from John Stevens Henslow and reported, ‘it has not varied’ (see Correspondence vol. 6, letter to J. S. Henslow, 6 August [1856], and Experimental notebook, p. 1 (DAR 157a)).
4
CD may have wanted to observe the radicles for his work on Movement in plants, but he discussed the splitting of the seed coat only in the case of Mimosa pudica (Movement in plants, p. 105).
5
A copy of Wilson’s two-part article ‘On the fertilisation of cereals’ (Wilson 1874–5) is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL. Wilson had discussed the pollen from exserted anthers of wheat in Gardeners’ Chronicle, 21 March 1874, pp. 375–6 (see also Cross and self fertilisation 2d ed., p. 370 n.).
6
Wilhelm Rimpau discussed the varying degrees of self-sterility in different varieties of wheat in Rimpau 1877a, p. 199. For CD’s earlier conclusions, see Correspondence vol. 9, letter to Journal of Horticulture, [before 9 July 1861], and Variation 1: 313–15 and 2: 104–5.
7
Rimpau’s papers on the cultivation of new grain varieties and the self-sterility of rye appeared in Landwirthschaftliche Jahrbucher (Rimpau 1877a and 1877b). Rimpau sent the papers to CD in 1877 (see Correspondence vol. 25, letters to Wilhelm Rimpau, 16 January 1877 and 13 December [1877]); copies are in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11372,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11372