Ɛpsilon

To ?   18 August [1880?]1

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

Augt 18th.

Dear Sir

I am much obliged for your note.2 The case is quite new to me & seems inexplicable.— I will endeavour to get the plant & at some future time observe the flowers. The information has come too late for my present work.—3

I remain Dear Sir | Yours faithfully & obliged | Charles Darwin

1
The year is conjectured on the assumption that the letter pertains to Movement in plants (see n. 3, below).
2
The note has not been found.
3
Probably Movement in plants; CD was already correcting proof-sheets for the book in August 1880 (see Correspondence vol. 28, letter to Francis Darwin, 28 July [1880]). The verso of CD’s letter contains the following note in an unknown hand: ‘Answer to a query about the movement of the flower in Dracocephalum Virginicum—’. Dracocephalum virginianum is a synonym of Physostegia virginiana, the obedient plant or false dragonhead. If a flower of this plant is bent or swivelled to a new position, it remains there for some time. The species is native to North America.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 (Railway … S.E.R.)] parentheses added

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13289A,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13289A