From W. E. Darwin   [18 June 1866]1

Southampton

Monday.

My Dear Father,

I send you the 3 kinds of Buckthorn.2 I went to the place yesterday, and marked some shrubs, there seemed about as many female trees, as there were of the other two put together   As soon as I have examined pollen etc of the two I will let you know.

Your affect son W E Darwin

CD annotations

Top of letter: ‘[Abord ] | abort [ovules] | 12 [fms]’ red crayon 3
Verso: ‘barely 127000 [altho looks] beautifully [impressive] | 127000 or 12–13/7000 middle sp p’ pencil 4
1
The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to W. E. Darwin, 19 [June 1866]. In 1866, 18 June was the Monday before 19 June.
2
William had promised to send specimens of the different flowers produced by Rhamnus cathartica (buckthorn) from the Isle of Wight (see letter from W. E. Darwin, [7 May – 11 June 1866] and n. 3). William and CD initially thought that the species might have hermaphrodite, as well as male and female forms; however, they later determined that the plant had two male and two female forms (see letter to W. E. Darwin, 19 [June 1866] and n. 4, and letter from W. E. Darwin, 20 June [1866] and n. 6).
3
CD described the partially aborted pistil in the male flowers of Rhamnus cathartica in a note dated 19 June 1866 in DAR 109: A41. See letter to W. E. Darwin, 19 [June 1866] and n. 4.
4
These annotations refer to the size in inches of pollen-grains in the different flower forms of Rhamnus cathartica. See letter to W. E. Darwin, 22 June [1866].

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-5109,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-5109