Hooker, Sir Joseph Dalton
JHC513
The Camp, Sunningdale, Berkshire, United Kingdom
JDH/2/16. f.156
Thiselton-Dyer, Sir William Turner
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
28-1-1897
© Descendants of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
Letters to Thiselton-Dyer
The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
English
Original MS
3 page letter over 1 folio
 

JDH informs Sir William Thiselton-Dyer of his thoughts on what he believes would be a spurious division of Cypripedia based on the character of coriaceous leaves in some Indian Cypripedia as opposed to membranous leaved species. This is a difficult distinction to make, & further if it was applied as a generic characteristic more widely, many other genera of Orchideae would be split. JDH points out that that a distinction could be made between the evergreen varieties within oaks & beeches but this has never been properly adopted. JDH wonders whether the name [for the Indian Cypripedia?] had even ben published when he was working on orchids; between 1882 & 1886. JDH is keen to know more about the antherozoids in Cycas & Thuja. References to various publications have been added to the end of the letter in a hand not that of JDH but appearing contemporary to the letter: PAPHIOPEDILUM by [Ernst Hugo Heinrich] Pfitzer, MORPHOLOGISCHE STUDIEN UBER DIE ORCHIDEENBLUTE, and BOTANISCHE JAHRBUCHER FUR SYSTEMATIK, PFLANZENGESCHICHTE UND PLANZENGEOGRAPHIE XIX.

Transcript

of the antherozoids in Cycas & Thuja.
I can hardly realise their not having been discovered before.
E[v]er aff[ectionate]ly y[ou]rs | J. D. Hooker [signature]
I fear that this weather is bad for your complaint.
Paphiopedilum, [Ernst Hugo Heinrich] Pfitz[er]*4 Morph[ologische] Stud[ien uber die] Orch[ideenblute], BC[?] (1886) -- mention only refined in Engler*5, Bot[anische] Jahrb[ucher] fur Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Planzengeographie] XIX (1894[sic]*6), p[age] 40.*7

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*1 Ja[nuar]y 28.[18]97
THE CAMP, SUNNINGDALE*2.
My Dear Dyer*3
As I cannot get to Kew during this weather with prudence, & you may be in doubt about Cypripedia, I write to say what I think may prove to be the case : - which is that the genus you name as having been given to the Indian Cypripedia is perhaps founded on the character of their coriaceous leaves, as compared with the plicate membranous leaved species. If this character is accepted as of generic value (alone) it will indicate the breaking up of a

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good many of Orchideae, Liparis, Erica & Dendrobium amongst these -- & there are some genera in which it is hard to say whether the leaves are, when fully developed, coriaceous or membranous, even where they were obviously plicates & there is variation. A genera was made for the evergreen Beeches, but never adopted; & the evergreen Oaks might claim the same dignity.
As to my not having taken up the name -- was it published when I did the Orchids? -- I began in 1882 & finished in 1886, if I remember aright.
I am thirsting to know more

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of the antherozoids in Cycas & Thuja.
I can hardly realise their not having been discovered before.
E[v]er aff[ectionate]ly y[ou]rs | J. D. Hooker [signature]
I fear that this weather is bad for your complaint.
Paphiopedilum, [Ernst Hugo Heinrich] Pfitz[er]*4 Morph[ologische] Stud[ien uber die] Orch[ideenblute], BC[?] (1886) -- mention only refined in Engler*5, Bot[anische] Jahrb[ucher] fur Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Planzengeographie] XIX (1894[sic]*6), p[age] 40.*7

ENDNOTES


1. Letter bears a date received stamp that reads 'Royal Gardens Kew 29. JAN. 97'.
2. The Camp, Sunningdale, Berks. The Hookers' country and later retirement home.
3. Sir William Thiselton-Dyer (1843--1928). British botanist and third Director of the Royal Botanic gardens, Kew (1885--1905). He succeeded Joseph Hooker in the role after serving as his Assistant Director for ten years. He also married Hooker's eldest daughter Harriet in 1877.
4. Ernst Hugo Heinrich Pfitzer (1846--1906). German botanist specialising in the taxonomy of the Orchidaceae.
5. Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler (1844--1930). German botanist, notable for his work on plant taxonomy and phytogeography, such as Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien (The Natural Plant Families), edited with Karl A. E. von Prantl. His system of plant classification, the Engler system, is still used by many herbaria and is followed by writers of many manuals and floras. It is still the only system that treats all 'plants' (in the wider sense, algae to flowering plants) in such depth.
6. Volume XIX is dated 1895: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/677#page/46/mode/1up
7. This heavily abbreviated paragraph appears at the end of the letter in red ink, in a contemporary script but not that of Hooker. Possible added by Dyer.

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