From Hubert Airy 7 December 1873
Edensor. | Kidbrook Grove. | Blackheath, London S.E.
7. December 1873.
My dear Sir
It is not easy to reject the notion that ‘twist’ has played a part in the history of Leaf-arrangement,—after an examination of the different species of Gasteria, a South African genus which I first saw exhibited by Dr. Hooker at the soirée of the R.S. last spring, and which I have lately examined more carefully in the Cambridge Botanical Gardens.—1
Here is a figure of Gasteria subnigricans,2 as seen from above:—
—and here is a series of diagrams of the other species, similarly projected, numbers standing for leaves.3
G. |
G |
G |
G |
G |
(I ought to have begun by thanking you for your kind letter:4 but I wanted to make sure of Gasteria.—
Perhaps I ought to refrain from troubling you with this but I cannot help thinking that you will be interested with the plain evidence, without comment.)
You kindly offered to lend me the paper you mentioned opposing my views—5 I should be much obliged if you would kindly do so, and I would return it as soon as possible. At present I am inspecting vaccination in Herefordshire,6 but hope to get home about a week before Christmas.
Thank you for your hints about bud-dissection— I long for leisure to do that and more.
I am, my dear Sir, | Yours very sincerely | Hubert Airy
Charles Darwin Esq. M.A., F.R.S. | Down, Kent.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Beal, William James. 1873. Phyllotaxis of cones. American Naturalist 7: 449–53.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Summary
Illustrates, with reference to different species of Gasteria, the role of twisting in the development of leaf arrangement.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9175
- From
- Hubert Airy
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Blackheath
- Source of text
- DAR 159: 27
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9175,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9175.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 21