Ɛpsilon

To James Paget   13 December 1880

[Leith Hill Place, Surrey.]

Dec. 13th, 1880.

Perhaps you would like to see a very small “tumour” on a lateral branch of the Silver Fir, caused by an Œstrum, as stated (with references) in my Power of Movement in Plants.1 These tumours are sometimes almost as big as a child’s head. At what age they emit the upright shoot, I do not know.

1
See Movement in plants, pp. 188–9. The oestrum or parasite was identified as Aecidium elatinum (a synonym of Melampsorella caryophyllacearum, fir broom rust). For more on CD’s and Francis Darwin’s research on the topic, see Correspondence vol. 27, letter from Francis Darwin, [after 2 June 1879]. Paget had recently given a lecture that included a discussion of plant pathologies (see letter from James Paget, 12 November 1880, and letter to James Paget, 14 November 1880).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12911,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12911