Ɛpsilon

From Thomas Whitelegge   27 May 1878

58 Hillgate St | Hurst Brook | Ashton under Lyne

May 27— 1878

Dear Sir

I forward you four Plants of Ranunculus repens, with the corolla and stamens reduced as in R. acris, but not reduced so much as in the latter.1 I gathered them in Medlock Vale, about 3 miles east of Manchester. I only found five Plants in this condition all of which were growing within a space of about 2 feet square. I have searched very carefully both in the same feild and in about 10 others where R. repens is the principl plant growing therein but failed to find any more in the same condition, not even intermediate forms can I find, but only the usual Hermaphrodites, it appears to be Proterandrous. Perhaps it may in a state similar to that of Lathyrus nissolia— that is in the first stage, of a change.2

I remain | Yours Truly | Thos Whitelegg

1
Ranunculus repens is the creeping buttercup; R. acris is the meadow buttercup. Whitelegge had sent CD plants of R. acris as an example of a gynodioecious species (see letter from Thomas Whitelegge, 16 May 1878 and n. 1).
2
Proterandrous (now protandrous) flowers are hermaphrodite flowers in which the male parts mature before the female ones. In Forms of flowers, pp. 326–7, CD had remarked that Lathyrus nissolia (grass vetchling) was apparently in the first stage of producing cleistogamic flowers.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11530,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11530