Ɛpsilon

To J. H. Balfour   21 October [1864]1

Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.

Oct. 21st

My dear Sir

It was very kind of you to remember about the seed of Corydalis.—2 From some wretched seed I did raise one single plant; but I am very glad of what you sent me to raise more, next summer.—3

I enclose only Photograph of myself which I have, made of me this summer by my son.—4

Very many thanks for yours.—

Yours sincerely. | Ch. Darwin

1
The date is established by the reference to the recent photograph of CD (see n. 4, below).
2
CD had written to Balfour asking for seeds of Corydalis claviculata, which he had been unable to obtain elsewhere, on 15 June [1862] (Correspondence vol. 13, Supplement).
3
In 1862, CD was interested in insect pollination and the fertility of Corydalis species (see, for example, Correspondence vol. 10, letter to Daniel Oliver, 12 [April 1862]; see also ‘Three forms of Lythrum salicaria’, p. 175 (Collected papers 2: 111), letter to Nature, 6 April [1874] (Calendar no. 9393), and Cross and self fertilisation, pp. 358–9). However, he had more recently become interested in C. claviculata for his work on climbing plants (see his notes on the species in DAR 157.2: 26–8; see also ‘Climbing plants’, p. 70), and may have acquired seeds from his son, William Erasmus Darwin (see Correspondence vol. 11, letter to W. E. Darwin, [10 May 1863]). For CD’s interest in other Corydalis species as climbers, see the letter from J. D. Hooker, [20 February 1864] and nn. 2 and 3.
4
William had taken a new photograph of his father some time before 19 May 1864 (see letter from W. E. Darwin, [19 May 1864] and n. 8). See also frontispiece to this volume.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-5251,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-5251