Ɛpsilon

To W. T. Thiselton-Dyer   16 November 1881

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

Nov. 16th. 1881.

My dear Dyer

Many thanks for your very kind note.—1 I am going to eat my words in my last note, for I shd. be particularly obliged (as soon as your foreman comes back) for any one, 2, 3, or 4 species of the genus Euphorbia.2 But they must not be precious plants, as I must kill them by turning them out of their pots to examine their roots.— I shd like a Poinsettia, if this genus is very close to Euphorbia.3

Also any species of Aslepiadæ; but I do not care much about these, as I have a large plant of Stephanotis & by cutting out a block of earth I daresay I shall find some young roots.4 The subject is by no means worth all the labour I am bestowing on it, but I cannot bear to be beaten.

I fear that I shall kill the splendid specimen of Sarracenia, which Hooker sent:5 it is downright murder, but I cannot help it.—

Ever yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin

Parcels to be addressed

“Live Plants”

C. Darwin

Orpington St.

S. E. R. ly.—

1
Thiselton-Dyer’s letter has not been found.
2
See letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 12 November [1881]. CD was studying the effects of the application of various chemical solutions to the root cells of some species of Euphorbia (spurge).
3
Poinsettia is an unaccepted genus whose former species are all placed in Euphorbia.
4
Stephanotis is a genus in the subfamily Asclepiadaceae (milkweed); the most common species is S. floribunda, Madagascar jasmine.
5
Sarracenia is the genus of trumpet pitchers native to North America. CD had requested a plant from Joseph Dalton Hooker in his letter of 22 October 1881. CD was studying the effect of various chemicals on chlorophyll in Sarracenia; his notes are in DAR 52.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

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

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13487,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13487