From Daniel Oliver   2 January 1875

Royal Gardens Kew

2 Jan. 1875.

My dear Mr Darwin

The generic name Genlisea must of course be maintained for the Utricularioid plants with 5-merous calyx of which we have one species from So. Africa & a few from Brazil. Those of which I sent you fragments under that name you keep as Genlisea.1 From your letter this morning I take it you have already seen Warming’s paper on Utricularia & Genlisea2

Ever very sincerely with all best N. Year wishes,— | Yours D. Oliver

CD annotations

Top of letter: ‘Merely to say that fragment sent under name of Genlisea must be so called.’ ink
1
Oliver had sent CD fragments of Genlisea (the corkscrew plant) with his letter to 24 December 1874 (Correspondence vol. 22). Oliver had earlier pointed out to CD that Genlisea was ‘simply Utricularia with 5-lobed calyx’ (ibid., letter from Daniel Oliver, 19 December 1874). 5-merous: pentamerous, having five parts. Most species of Utricularia (bladderwort) have two calyx lobes, while some have four.
2
CD’s letter to Oliver of 1 January 1875 is published in Correspondence vol. 30, Supplement. CD cited Eugenius Warming’s paper on Genlisea and Utricularia (Warming 1874) in Insectivorous plants, pp. 397 n. and 446 and n. For CD’s reply, see the letter to J. D. Hooker, 3 January [1875].

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9796,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9796