Ɛpsilon

To William Kemp   24 [April 1843]1

Down | Bromley | Kent

24th

Dear Sir

I am glad you are willing to follow my advice about deferring your account till the plants have been ascertained.— I return the copy of the Paper you sent me.—2 I am sorry to say I have not yet heard from Mr. R. Brown & I fear my letter has miscarried or perhaps he waits till I see him in town: I will not fail to write if he has anything particular to observe.—3

I have heard from Prof. Lindley, who says one of the seeds is certainly a Polygonum & the other probably a Chenopodium: he anticipates they will turn out common species— He has had seeds carefully planted & will communicate the result to me if they germinate.—4

I hope you will carefully dry some of your specimens in their flowering & seeding state | Yours very faithfully | C. Darwin

1
The month and year are established by the relationship between this letter, the letter from William Kemp, 2 October 1843 (Correspondence vol. 2), and the letter to John Lindley, 8 [April 1843] (Correspondence vol. 2).
2
See this volume, Supplement, letter to William Kemp, 7 April [1843] and n. 6.
3
See this volume, Supplement, letter to William Kemp, 7 April [1843]. CD refers to Robert Brown.
4
Polygonum and Chenopodium are both in the order Caryophyllales. See Correspondence vol. 2, letter from John Lindley, [after 8 April 1843].

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.4 he waits] ‘e’ over ‘is’; ‘waits’ after del ‘customary’
2.3 result to] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-672F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-672F