I know nothing about the capacity for fertilisation in the
two forms; but short-styled plants, living by themselves in the gardens at Kew,
have produced an abundance of capsules, yet the seeds have never germinated; and
this looks as if the short-styled form was sterile with its own pollen.
Limnanthemum Indicum (Gentianeae).
This plant is mentioned by Mr. Thwaites in his Enumeration of the Plants of
Ceylon as presenting two forms; and he was so kind as to send me specimens
preserved in spirits. The pistil of the long-styled form is nearly thrice as
long (i.e. as 14 to 5) as that of the short-styled, and is very much thinner in
the ratio of about 3 to 5. The foliaceous stigma is more expanded, and twice as
large as that of the short-styled form. In the latter the stamens are about
twice as long as those of the long-styled, and their anthers are larger in the
ratio of 100 to 70. The pollen-grains, after having been long kept in spirits,
were of the same shape and size in both forms. The ovules, according to Mr.
Thwaites, are equally numerous (namely from 70 to 80) in the two forms.
Villarsia [sp.?] (Gentianeae).
Fritz Muller sent me from South Brazil dried flowers of this aquatic plant,
which is closely allied to Limnanthemum. In the long-styled form the stigma
stands some way above the anthers, and the whole pistil, together with the
ovary, is in length to that of the short-styled form as about 3 to 2.
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