To George Bentham   3 December [1856]1

Down Bromley Kent

Dec. 3d

My dear Sir

I write merely to thank you for your information on the apetalous flowers.—2 The case seems too exceptional to help me; & the whole order will remain my detestable enemies. I will get some Russian violets & will watch them next summer.— I have attended a little to Heartease, & have observed after the rare visits of Bees, that numbers of flowers suddenly became in a few days fertilised.3

Your’s truly obliged | Ch. Darwin

1
Dated by the relationship to the letter from George Bentham, 2 December [1856].
3
CD’s observations from 1841 and 1846 are in DAR 46.2 (ser. 3): 15. He described this case in Natural selection, p. 57.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.5 a] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2010,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2010