Ɛpsilon

To H. T. Stainton   28 September 1881

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

Sept. 28th 1881

My dear Sir

It was very kind of you to send me the Dahlia flower, which is curious & pretty; but analogous cases have been occasionally observed. Mr Bree, who half-a century ago often wrote in Hort. & Nat. Hist. Journals, says that a Dahlia “bore two different kinds of self-coloured flowers, as well as a third kind which partook of both colours beautifully intermixed”.—1 I could add other cases of such bud-variation.—

My dear Sir | Yours very faithfully | Charles Darwin

1
William Thomas Bree’s observation in reference to a variety of Georgina (a synonym of Dahlia), published in the Gardener’s Magazine 8 (1832): 94, was quoted by CD in Variation 1: 385.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 (Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.)] parentheses added

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13359,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13359