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From John Smith   8 April 1868

Royal Gardens Kew

April 8th 1868.

Sir

In reference to the fertilisation of the flowers of Victoria regia, I beg to inform you that the self fertilised flowers produced from 8, to 15. Seeds in a Capsule, flowers fertilised artificially with pollen from the same plant produced from 15 to 30. seeds in Capsule and flowers fertilised with pollen from the Chatsworth plant produced from 60, in one to 75, in a second, Capsule, and seeds much larger than either of the former.1

I am | Sir | Your Obedient Servant | John Smith

C. Darwin Esqre.

CD annotations

1.2 the self fertilised flowers] ‘Perhaps did not get pollen [easily]’ added above, pencil
Top of letter: ‘Perhaps introduce with table F as also in [case] of self sterile species without aid ??’2 pencil
1
See letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 April [1868] and nn. 2 and 3. Victoria regia is now V. amazonica; Smith also refers to the garden of Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, which had a greenhouse designed by Joseph Paxton to house specimens of the plant (R. Desmond 1994). CD cited Smith’s information on V. regia under the synonym Euryale amazonica in Cross and self fertilisation, p. 358.
2
‘Table F’ refers to a list in Cross and self fertilisation, pp. 322–3, comparing the relative fertility of flowers using pollen from a distinct plant or own pollen. Smith’s data on Victoria regia was not included.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-6108,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-6108