Ɛpsilon

To Asa Gray   20 March [1880]

Down Beckenham | Kent

March 20th

Will you be so kind as to tell me whether Mr. Thompson of Ipswich is right that Ipomœa leptophylla makes a great tuber as big as a manget-wurzel.—1 A word on post-card wd suffice. Petioles of Cotyledons behave partly like those of Megarrhiza.2

C. Darwin

ApcS

Postmark: MA 20 80

1
In his letter of 6 November 1879 (Correspondence vol. 27), Gray had recommended that CD try to obtain Ipomoea seeds from William Thompson (1823–1903). CD later reported that the seeds he had of Ipomoea leptophylla (bush morning-glory) had not germinated (letter to Asa Gray, 19 January 1880). The mangel-wurzel or mangold wurzel is a variety of Beta vulgaris.
2
In his letter 19 January 1880, CD described the early growth of Megarrhiza from seeds that Gray had sent him. For CD’s discussion of the movement and growth of seedling plants of Megarrhiza californica and Ipomoea leptophylla, see Movement in plants, pp. 81–5.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.3 of Cotyledons] interl
1.3 partly] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12541,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12541