To J. D. Hooker   13 April [1865]

Down

April 13th

My dear Hooker.

Here is a pretty thing, the Strelitzia has arrived safely this morning (specific name not given) but no Books & Bottle from Thwaites.1 I hope they are not lost, but if so of course I will make good the Bot. Zeitung.—2

I shall be glad to hear news before very long of your Father: Bronchitis at near 80 is very serious.—3

Yours affect | C. Darwin

Your note received this morning made me laugh— I hope my judgment about the Origin is as good & unfailing as yours about your own papers!4

It is worth while to pass your little finger, like a Birds beak, parallel to stamens of Strelitzia, as if to enter within the little petal at the base for nectar,, & see how neatly the two other oddly shaped blue petals open & expose pollen.—5

Endorsement: ‘/65.’

1
CD refers to a Strelitzia specimen, and to a bottle and some other items that Hooker had undertaken to forward from George Henry Kendrick Thwaites; Hooker had also mentioned that he would send Grisebach 1864 and an issue of Botanische Zeitung (see letters from J. D. Hooker, [7–8 April 1865] and 12 April [1865], and n. 2, below).
2
CD had asked to borrow an issue of Botanische Zeitung for 1860 containing an article on Pisum (Alefeld 1860). See letter to J. D. Hooker, 6 April [1865].
3
Hooker mentioned the illness of William Jackson Hooker in his letter to CD of 12 April [1865].
5
For CD’s interest in the pollination of Strelitzia, see the letter from J. D. Hooker, [7–8 April 1865], n. 4.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 not given] above del ‘unknown’
1.2 & Bottle from Thwaites] interl
1.3 if so] interl
5.2 for nectar,] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-4813,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-4813