5. These are higher numbers than could be expected from either well-
characterised form if self-fertilised; and this high degree of fertility accords
with the view that the male organs belonged to one form, and the female organs
partially to the other form; so that a self-union in the case of the equal-
styled variety is in fact a legitimate union.
The seed saved from the above seventeen self-fertilised equal-styled plants
produced sixteen plants, which all proved equal-styled, and resembled their
parents in all the above-specified respects. The stamens, however, in one plant
were seated higher up the tube of the corolla than in the true long-styled form;
in another plant almost all the anthers were contabescent. These sixteen plants
were the grandchildren of the four original plants, which it is believed were
equal-styled; so that this abnormal condition was faithfully transmitted,
probably through three, and certainly through two generations. The fertility of
one of these grandchildren was carefully observed: six flowers were fertilised
with pollen from the same flower, and produced six capsules, containing on an
average 68 seeds, with a maximum of 82, and a minimum of 40. Thirteen capsules
spontaneously self-fertilised yielded an average of 53.2 seeds, with the
astonishing maximum in one of 97 seeds. In no legitimate union has so high an
average as 68 seeds been observed by me, or nearly so high a maximum as 82 and
97.
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