Ɛpsilon

To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer   11 December [1879]1

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

Dec. 11th

My dear Dyer

I am going again to beg assistance of you. & Kew. We badly want apheliotropic plants & think we see our way to good results if we had more plants to work on. We want young plant of Smilax aspera, & rather want Mutisia clematis & Eccremocarpus, but seeds of 2 latter would do.2 We also want any of following seeds, (on account of their radicles) which you may chance to possess, & which Thompson of Ipswich3 has not.— I copy all out on following page.4 The 2 plants of Bignonia capreolata, which you sent have been invaluable & shall herewith be returned.5

Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

P.S. I forgot my most important question. I can get seeds of Viscum, but how wd be best manner of making seeds germinate, so that they cd. be observed & Dutrochet says hypocotyls strongly apheliotropic.6

1
The year is established by the reference to Bignonia capreolata (crossvine); CD received plants from Kew in May 1878 (Outwards book, Archives, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew), and still had them in February 1879 (letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 3 February 1879). He retained at least one when he sent plants back to Kew in July (letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, [after 26] July [1879] and n. 2).
2
CD had received plants of Mutisia clematis and Smilax aspera var. maculata (rough bindweed) from Kew in December 1879 (Outwards book, Archives, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew), but the Smilax was damaged by scale insects (letter to J. D. Hooker, 22 July [1879] and n. 10). CD had discussed Eccremocarpus scaber (Chilean glory vine) in Climbing plants; he did not mention it in Movement in plants. On apheliotropism in the tendrils of Bignonia capreolata and Smilax aspera, see Movement in plants, pp. 432–3, 450–1.
4
The page has not been found.
5
See nn. 1 and 2, above.
6
Henri Dutrochet discussed the tendency of the hypocotyl (the stem that supports the cotyledons) of Viscum album (mistletoe) to turn away from the sun in Dutrochet 1837, 2: 63.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 ( Railway… S.E.R.)] parentheses added
1.3 rather want] above del ‘somewhat of’
1.5 possess,] comma over point
1.5 & … has not. 1.6] interl
1.6 2] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12352,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12352