Ɛpsilon

To J. S. Henslow   14 October [1857]1

Down Bromley Kent

Oct. 14th

My dear Henslow

It is a great shame to trouble you about such trifles; but your Myosotis is beginning to sport under my treatment;2 & I want to know whether it is not an odd thing some of the calyces, (as the one separate one) having 6 nuts.— Some twigs produce green flowers, with the nuts oddly elongated; of which I send a little twig, I do not send more, as I want to save the monstrous seeds.— The shortest scrap in answer anytime wd much oblige me.

Most truly yours | C. Darwin

1
Dated by the relationship to the letter to J. S. Henslow, 18 October [1857].
2
CD’s observations are recorded in his Experimental book, p. 31 (DAR 157a) in an entry dated 14 October 1857. It is not clear to which set of Myosotis seeds sent by Henslow he refers.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.1 you] interl
1.2 sport] after del ‘suff’
1.3 separate] after del ‘spe’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2153,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2153