To J. S. Henslow   11 July [1855]

My dear Henslow

As I see Babington makes some differences between Lychnis diurna & vespertina; & as he says that the red species is sometimes white, & white sometimes red,¹ it strikes me as quite necessary that a good specimen, of the same plant from which the seeds were got or from same group of plants sh^d. be dried as a standard of comparison, sh^d. I succeed in making the seedlings from your seed sport & vary.— Do you not think that this will be quite necessary?— otherwise it will be asserted that it was a red var. of L. vespertina.

I have planted part of the seed in good sunny ground, & as soon as I can get young plants, I will begin to manure & torture them in every way, which I can think of.—

I have, also, some Myosotis in two situations; but I care most about the Lychnis, as Gærtner has laboriously experimented on its powers of crossing.²

Ever your’s most truly | C. Darwin

Do you think you could by any correspondent get me some seed of the wild Dianthus caryophyllus; I want some to try some experiments in hybridising, & I sh^d. likewise like to see whether I could break the plant & get pretty varieties.—