Ɛpsilon

To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer   1 April [1879]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

April 1st

My dear Dyer

The plants arrived all save & will be very useful.2 They are kinds which, as I formerly ascertained, move much quicker to than from the light, but I suspect do not change their centre of rotation (i.e. do not bend towards light), & this is a curious point, which I am anxious to ascertain.3 The Anoda will also be very useful, & you have sent me a prodigious supply of Trifolium seeds—4

Many thanks | Ever yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 24 March 1879.
2
The plants requested by CD were listed in the letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 24 March 1879.
3
In Movement in plants, pp. 451–2, CD discussed plants in which the speed of rotation was faster when moving towards the light than when moving away from it, attributing this to a vestige of heliotropism.
4
CD had requested seeds of Anoda wrightii, probably in order to observe the movement of the cotyledons (letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 24 March 1879; Movement in plants, pp. 302–3). Anoda wrightii (a synonym of Anoda lanceolata) is a species of mallow; Trifolium is the genus of clover.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 much] interl
1.3 (i.e. … light)] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11964,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11964