From Margaret Susan Wedgwood   [before 4 August 1862]1

The Manor | Llandudno

Dear Uncle Charles

Of 256 specimens of Lythrum gathered this morning from different plants, we find

94 with long pistil

95 — middle length pistil

69 — shortest pistil.

These plants were all in one large field or near it but tomorrow we will go if we can manage it in a different direction for more—2 We find it rather difficult in gathering to know what are distinct plants and what only offsets. At Criccieth & Aber we thought the different sorts usually grew in plots together mixed with a few of the others but here they are all together. We have found the Hottonia, and find the pistils of different lengths as I think you told us.3

Your affec niece | M. S. Wedgwood

CD annotations

2.2 We find … niece 3.1] crossed pencil
Top of letter: ‘Aug 4th 1862’
1
Dated by CD’s annotation, and by reference to CD’s reply to this letter (letter to K. E. S., L. C., and M. S. Wedgwood, 4 [August 1862]).
2
CD wanted to know the proportions of the three forms of Lythrum salicaria in different localities (see, for example, the letter to W. E. Darwin, [2–3 August 1862]), and had evidently asked his nieces, Katherine Elizabeth Sophy, Margaret Susan, and Lucy Caroline Wedgwood, to examine specimens during their visit to North Wales. Margaret provided a further tally of the three forms in the letter from M. S. Wedgwood, [6 August 1862]; CD quoted the totals in ‘Three forms of Lythrum salicaria’, p. 174 (Collected papers 2: 110).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3681,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-3681