To Daniel Oliver   19 October [1874]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

Oct. 19th.

My dear Professor Oliver

I send today by railway, the plants to Kew, & I trust that they may arrive all safe.2 Roridula has interested me extremely, as I believe it shews the primordial state of most of the group. If either you or Hooker know whether it has a confined range at the C. of Good Hope, I shd very much like to hear. I presume that Byblis is confined to Swan River.3

It is remarkable what confined ranges most of the species, excepting those of Drosera, have; though, if the European & Indian Aldrovanda is the same, this also must be excepted. Drosera Heterophylla, besides the odd shape of its leaf, has very curious cells, quite unlike those which I have seen in the rest of the family.4

I have not yet attacked any of the Utric. which you so kindly sent me.5

yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

If you cd. spare me a leaf of the Bengal Aldrovanda, I could at once see whether it differs from the German.— A plant to which the leaf is so important I shd. think wd. be more to present differences than in the flower.—6

LS(A)

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to Daniel Oliver, 14 October 1874.
2
Oliver sent dried specimens of the insectivorous plants Byblis gigantea and Roridula dentata (see letter from Daniel Oliver, 12 October 1874). These species are discussed in Insectivorous plants, pp. 342–5.
3
CD refers to Joseph Dalton Hooker, the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, and the Swan River, Perth, south-west Australia.
4
Aldrovanda vesiculosa is the waterwheel plant; Drosera heterophylla is the swamp rainbow, native to Western Australia.
5
Oliver had sent fragments of several species of Utricularia (bladderwort; see letter from Daniel Oliver, 12 October 1874).
6
CD discussed differences in the leaves of Aldrovanda vesiculosa var. verticillata from Bengal and Germany in Insectivorous plants, pp. 329–30.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.1 , & … safe.] added in CD’s hand
5.1 If … flower.— 5.3] in CD’s hand

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9686,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9686