Ɛpsilon

To ?   31 July [1881?]1

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

July 31

Dear Sir

I am greatly obliged to you for your very kind note & sending me the valuable plant. The appearance on arrival was rather piteous, & there are hardly any fibrous roots.2 But every possible care shall be taken of it, for my own sake & that of Kew.

Permit me again to thank you cordially & I remain, dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin

1
The year is conjectured from a note on the letter, which may be an endorsement or an archivist’s note.
2
The note has not been found and the plant has not been identified. For CD’s interest in fibrous-rooted plants around this time, see the letter to J. D. Hooker, 22 October 1881 and n. 5.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13267,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13267