Ɛpsilon

From William Allport Leighton   [before 21 June 1863]1

[Enclosure]2

Days ago I was at Lee’s3 with our fellow Lambert,4 &, as many species of Verbascum unknown to me were in blossom, I tried in all of them the phænomenon of their [irritability], with the greatest success in all of them. I remember having spoken to you about it; & as probably the English Verbasca are now in flower about Norwich I will be very glad if you observe it minutely. Strike with a stick & with some force, the stem of the plant under the branches 2 or 3 times & wait patiently for some minutes; you will see the limbus of the corolla move towards the centre, & afterwards the basis of the tubus slowly detach itself from the receptacle & fall—& immedly. the calyx close itself with impatience & embrace the seeds & that will happen to all the open flowers one after another.5 In Portugal6 I had observed it in the Verbascum Thapsi—sinuatum— Blattaria—now at Lee’s in many others & I wish I cod. observe all its species & the Celsiæ:— I know nothing analogous in other plants   Next year this will be followed up, & made a Memoir for our Society.7

Abbé Correa to Sir JES. in lit July 4. 1795   see Life of Sir JES. 2.2108

CD annotations

End of letter: ‘Life of Sir J. E. Smith.’ ink
1
The date is established by the reference to CD’s experimental notes on Verbascum lychnitis (see n. 5, below).
2
The letter with which this enclosure was sent has not been found. The enclosure is a copy of part of a letter from Abade José Francisco Correa da Serra to James Edward Smith, transcribed by Leighton from P. Smith 1832, 2: 210–11.
3
The reference is apparently to the Vineyard Nursery, Hammersmith, London, in which James Lee was a partner.
4
Probably the botanist Aylmer Bourke Lambert, a friend of Smith’s (DNB).
5
CD attempted to repeat this experiment with Verbascum lychnitis, but without success. His experimental notes, dated 21 June 1863 (DAR 108: 5), state: Verbascum lychnitis, when struck does not cast corolla, nor do sepals close over ovarium. I believe flowers do not close. I believe V. phœniceum does not cast flowers [interl]; certainly sepals do not close over ovarium.—
6
Correa da Serra was Portugese; he fled to Britain in 1795 to escape the inquisition (P. Smith 1832, 2: 198–224).
7
Correa da Serra apparently refers to the Linnean Society, of which both he and Smith were fellows; however, he did not publish a paper on Verbascum in the society’s transactions, and no paper by Correa da Serra on this subject has been found (see Royal Society catalogue of scientific papers, and Reuss 1801–21).
8
P. Smith 1832, 2: 210–11 (see n. 2, above).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-4217F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-4217F