From J. D. Hooker   1 July 1870

Royal Gardens Kew

July 1/70

My dear Darwin

I am sorry to say that we have no seeds of the Hibiscus or Nolana;1 they are things of a class which it is not worth our while to harvest the seeds of— we can buy fresh seeds cheaper annually for ourselves & the rare correspondents who ask for them

I herewith send a list of the best Liliums we can give you plants of most if you do not want many— but I suppose that you want bed’s full.—2

I have lost a note I made about a work on European orchids that we want; & which you mention in your supplementary paper on Orchid: fertilization. What I want to know is when you saw said work— can you pick up my scattered ideas for me? You quote I think some Society’s memoirs, for the work3

We have been awfully gay of late at dinners & Garden parties. & I am proportionately behindhand & disgusted with myself.

Ever Yours affect | J D Hooker

CD annotations

Top of letter: ‘London Inf. | I work like a Horse & am begun to get MS pages ready for Prg | what a good [illeg]’4 pencil
1
See letter to J. D. Hooker, [29 June 1870]. CD had asked for seeds of Hibiscus africanus (a synonym of H. trionum, bladder ketmia) and Nolana prostrata (a synonym of N. paradoxa, Chilean-bellflower).
2
The list of species of Lilium has not been found.
3
Hooker refers to ‘Fertilization of orchids’; he may refer to Hermann Müller’s paper on Westphalian orchids (H. Müller 1868), which is referred to by CD as a memoir (see ‘Fertilization of orchids’, p. 150 (Collected papers 2: 147)).
4
CD’s annotation is a note for his letter to Hooker of 2 July [1870].

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7258,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7258