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Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882

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

During 1864 it was surrounded
by legitimate and illegitimate plants of the other two forms; and nine capsules
(one poor one being rejected) yielded an average of 41.9 seeds, with a maximum
of 56 and a minimum of 28; so that, under these favourable circumstances, this
plant, the most fertile of the first lot, did not yield, when legitimately
fertilised, quite 45 per cent of the full complement of seeds.]
In the second lot of plants in the present class, descended from the long-styled
form, almost certainly fertilised with pollen from its own mid-length stamens,
the plants, as already stated, were not nearly so dwarfed or so sterile as in
the first lot. All produced plenty of capsules. I counted the number of seeds in
only three plants, namely Numbers 8, 9, and 10.
[PLANT 8.
This plant was allowed to be freely fertilised in 1864 by legitimate and
illegitimate plants of the other two forms, and ten capsules yielded on an
average 41.1 seeds, with a maximum of 73 and a minimum of 11. Hence this plant
produced only 44 per cent of the full complement of seeds.
PLANT 9.
This long-styled plant was allowed in 1865 to be freely fertilised by
illegitimate plants of the other two forms, most of which were moderately
fertile. Fifteen capsules yielded on an average 57.1 seeds, with a maximum of 86
and a minimum of 23.


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