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Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882

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

The difference in diameter between the grains from the two
sets of anthers in the short-styled form is as 100 to 73. The capsules contain
fewer seeds on an average than those of either of the preceding forms, namely
83.5; and the seeds are considerably smaller. In this latter respect, but not in
number, there is a gradation parallel to that in the length of the pistil, the
long-styled having the largest seeds, the mid-styled the next in size, and the
short-styled the smallest.
We thus see that this plant exists under three female forms, which differ in the
length and curvature of the style, in the size and state of the stigma, and in
the number and size of the seed. There are altogether thirty-six males or
stamens, and these can be divided into three sets of a dozen each, differing
from one another in length, curvature, and colour of the filaments--in the size
of the anthers, and especially in the colour and diameter of the pollen-grains.
Each form bears half-a-dozen of one kind of stamens and half-a-dozen of another
kind, but not all three kinds. The three kinds of stamens correspond in length
with the three pistils: the correspondence is always between half of the stamens
in two of the forms with the pistil of the third form. Table 4.a of the
diameters of the pollen-grains, after immersion in water, from both sets of
stamens in all three forms is copied from H.


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