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Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882

"The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species"

This latter
difference is the most important one of any between the two forms.
Gilia (Ipomopsis) pulchella vel aggregata (Polemoniaceae).
Professor Asa Gray remarks with respect to this plant: "the tendency to
dimorphism, of which there are traces, or perhaps rather incipient
manifestations in various portions of the genus, is most marked in G.
aggregata." (3/17. 'Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.'
June 14, 1870 page 275.) He sent me some dried flowers, and I procured others
from Kew. They differ greatly in size, some being nearly twice as long as others
(namely as 30 to 17), so that it was not possible to compare, except by
calculation, the absolute length of the organs from different plants. Moreover,
the relative position of the stigmas and anthers is variable: in some long-
styled flowers the stigmas and anthers were exserted only just beyond the throat
of the corolla; whilst in others they were exserted as much as 4/10 of an inch.
I suspect also that the pistil goes on growing for some time after the anthers
have dehisced. Nevertheless it is possible to class the flowers under two forms.
In some of the long-styled, the length of pistil to that of the short-styled was
as 100 to 82; but this result was gained by reducing the size of the corollas to
the same scale. In another pair of flowers the difference in length between the
pistils of the two forms was certainly greater, but they were not actually
measured.


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