RECORD: Henslow, J. S. 1843. Clover dodder [citing a lost letter from Darwin]. Gardeners' Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette (7 October): 694.
REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed and edited by John van Wyhe 7.2022. RN1
NOTE: See the record for this item in the Freeman Bibliographical Database by entering its Identifier here.
A letter with this information from Darwin to his friend and former Cambridge mentor John Stevens Henslow is not known. Darwin and his family had only moved to Kent the year before. Clover-dodder (Cuscuta epithymum) is an invasive seed plant, native to continental Europe, which parasitises clover and other plants. Darwin only mentions clover-dodder or its genus a few times in his writings. In his so-called big book on his evolution theory, Natural selection, he wrote: "I presume the remarkable fact of the seedling Cuscuta not having cotyledons, though germinating in the soil, stands in direct correlation with the mature plant being parasitic on the elaborated sap of other plants & so not requiring leaves." p. 299 and p. 358: "Most parasitic plants are parasites, & most climbing plants are climbers from their earliest days; but the Cuscuta or dodder germinates in the ground becomes parasitic, & its roots then perish". Also, he made a note in his abstract of Gardeners' Chronicle 1858: CUL-DAR75.9 "466 on the germination of cuscuta & mistletoe - showing early disappearance of roots". And the irritability of stems of Cuscuta is mentioned in Climbing plants, pp. 17 and 71. The mention of Darwin's letter is here given in bold for clarity.
[page] 694
Clover Dodder.—As it may be interesting to keep a record of the circumstances under which the Clover Dodder has made its appearance among us this year, I can add to your informant at p. 677, that I have seen one instance of its introduction with Lucerne-seed from Affghanistan, and heard of another—the former near Colchester, the latter near Bromley in Kent. A correspondent has also just furnished me with specimens from Reigate, which he believes to have been introduced with foreign Clover-seed. It is rather singular that it should have been brought among us both from the East Indies and the continent of Europe in the same year. I can see no very marked difference between the plants from both localities. Mr. Darwin also writes that he has seen a field of Clover near him in Kent studded with this pest, presenting an appearance of having had a dozen or more bonfires in it, each from 6 to 12 feet in diameter.—J. S. Henslow.
Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
File last updated 4 December, 2022