The former bore 289 flowers, of which 186 (i.e. 64 per cent) had set
fruit, yielding 1.88 seed per fruit. The ten short-styled plants bore 373
flowers, of which 262 (i.e. 70 per cent) had set fruit, yielding 1.86 seed per
fruit. So that the short-styled plants produced many more flowers, and these set
a rather larger proportion of fruit, but the fruits themselves yielded a
slightly lower average number of seeds than did the long-styled plants. The
results of Hildebrand's experiments on the fertility of the two forms are given
in Table 3.19.
TABLE 3.19. Pulmonaria officinalis (from Hildebrand).
Column 1: Nature of the Union.
Column 2: Number of Flowers fertilised.
Column 3: Number of Fruits produced.
Column 4: Average Number of Seeds per Fruit.
Long-styled by pollen of short-styled. Legitimate union :
14 : 10 : 1.30.
Long-styled 14 by own-pollen, and 16 by pollen of other plant of same form.
Illegitimate union :
30 : 0 : 0.
Short-styled by pollen of long-styled. Legitimate union:
16 : 14 : 1.57.
Short-styled 11 by own-pollen, 14 by pollen of other plant of same form.
Illegitimate union :
25 : 0 : 0.
In the summer of 1864, before I had heard of Hildebrand's experiments, I noticed
some long-styled plants of this species (named for me by Dr. Hooker) growing by
themselves in a garden in Surrey; and to my surprise about half the flowers had
set fruit, several of which contained 2, and one contained even 3 seeds.
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