Nevertheless, there is never the slightest difficulty in
distinguishing between the two forms; for, besides the difference in the
divergence of the stigmas, those of the short-styled form never reach even to
the bases of the anthers. In this form the papillae on the stigmatic surfaces
are shorter, darker-coloured, and more crowded together than in the long-styled
form; but these differences seem due merely to the shortening of the stigma, for
in the varieties of the long-styled form with shorter stigmas, the papillae are
more crowded and darker-coloured than in those with the longer stigmas.
Considering the slight and variable differences between the two forms of this
Linum, it is not surprising that hitherto they have been overlooked.
In 1861 I had eleven plants in my garden, eight of which were long-styled, and
three short-styled. Two very fine long-styled plants grew in a bed a hundred
yards off all the others, and separated from them by a screen of evergreens. I
marked twelve flowers, and placed on their stigmas a little pollen from the
short-styled plants. The pollen of the two forms is, as stated, identical in
appearance; the stigmas of the long-styled flowers were already thickly covered
with their own pollen--so thickly that I could not find one bare stigma, and it
was late in the season, namely, September 15th.
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