Column 5: Average Number of Seeds per Flower fertilised.
The six legitimate unions : 75 : 56 : 96.29 : 71.89.
The twelve illegitimate unions : 146 : 36 : 44.72 : 11.03.
Therefore the fertility of the legitimate unions to that of the illegitimate, as
judged by the proportion of the fertilised flowers which yielded capsules, is as
100 to 33; and judged by the average number of seeds per capsule, as 100 to 46.
From this summary and the several foregoing tables we see that it is only pollen
from the longest stamens which can fully fertilise the longest pistil; only that
from the mid-length stamens, the mid-length pistil; and only that from the
shortest stamens, the shortest pistil. And now we can comprehend the meaning of
the almost exact correspondence in length between the pistil in each form and a
set of six stamens in two of the other forms; for the stigma of each form is
thus rubbed against that part of the insect's body which becomes charged with
the proper pollen. It is also evident that the stigma of each form, fertilised
in three different ways with pollen from the longest, mid-length, and shortest
stamens, is acted on very differently, and conversely that the pollen from the
twelve longest, twelve mid-length, and twelve shortest stamens acts very
differently on each of the three stigmas; so that there are three sets of female
and of male organs.
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