The second plant also died in September; and the
first plant, though all three grew under very favourable conditions, looked very
sickly. Hence we may infer that seedlings from self-fertilised oxlips would
hardly be able to exist in a state of nature. I was surprised to find that all
the pollen-grains in the first of these seedling oxlips appeared sound; and in
the second only a moderate number were bad. These two plants, however, had not
the power of producing a proper number of seeds; for though left uncovered and
surrounded by pure primroses and cowslips, the capsules were estimated to
include an average of only from fifteen to twenty seeds.
From having many experiments in hand, I did not sow the seed obtained by
crossing both forms of the primrose and cowslip with both forms of the oxlip,
which I now regret; but I ascertained an interesting point, namely, the
character of the offspring from oxlips growing in a state of nature near both
primroses and cowslips. The oxlips were the same plants which, after their seeds
had been collected, were transplanted and experimented on. From the seeds thus
obtained eight plants were raised, which, when they flowered, might have been
mistaken for pure primroses; but on close comparison the eye in the centre of
the corolla was seen to be of a darker yellow, and the peduncles more elongated.
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