RECORD: Darwin, C. R. 1864.03.14-27. Ceropegia grandiflora. CUL-DAR157.2.91. Edited by John van Wyhe (Darwin Online, http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed by Christine Chua and edited by John van Wyhe 5.2023. RN1
NOTE: See record in the Darwin Online manuscript catalogue, enter its Identifier here. Reproduced with permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library and William Huxley Darwin.
The volumes CUL-DAR157.1-2 contain notes, abstracts etc. for Darwin's long paper and later book Climbing plants (1865). It was also commercially available as a softbound offprint, F834, F834a. See R. B. Freeman's bibliographical introduction. Items CUL-DAR157.11-60 were in a folder marked "Twiners". Items CUL-DAR157.61-112 were in a folder marked "Leaf-climbers" and items CUL-DAR157.114-147 were in a folder marked "Tendrils". Reproduced with permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library and William Huxley Darwin.
"Lettington, Henry, c.1822/3-c.1910. Gardener in 1851 census. 1854-79 Gardener at Down House. L of CD "He moons about in the garden, and I have seen him standing doing nothing before a flower for ten minutes at a time. If only he had something to do I believe he would be better". Lubbock, Darwin-Wallace celebrations of the Lin. Soc. of London, 1908, pp. 57-8. Helped CD in his experiments on the crossing of plants." (Paul van Helvert & John van Wyhe, Darwin: A Companion, 2021)
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Mar 14. 1864 Ceropegia Grandiflora
Horace marked with red line concave side of a considerably bowed shoot; in 2 or 3 hours red line was on convex side, shewing that the whole shoot curves in opposite directions. We may perhaps best understand the movement by imagining an inclined shoot to contract in a narrow line along the whole upper surface; then the contraction of the lower part wd raise the upper part, then as the upper part also contracts the shoot becomes bowed. If we imagine a horizontal shoot to contract along one lateral face
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there wd be horizontal movement & curvature as in the former case, now the real movement as we have seen is the resultant of these two movements. There is mistake here— All that can be said that contraction which causes oblique movement, is not confined to a time
March 27' Lettington & I have painted hooked tip & certainly the hook reverses itself — Plants shoot at all period of growth has not hook. These hooks common in Twiner, perhaps useful; but certainly not always caused by flexure, as in Cissus discolor, which has no movement & bends apparently to be out of way of tendril. which projects straight up—
Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
File last updated 24 July, 2023