]
CONCLUSIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE EQUAL-STYLED VARIETY OF P. Sinensis.
That this is a variation, and not a third or distinct form, as in the trimorphic
genera Lythrum and Oxalis, is clear; for we have seen its first appearance in
one out of a lot of illegitimate long-styled plants; and in the case of Mr.
Duck's seedlings, long-styled plants, only slightly deviating from the normal
state, as well as equal-styled plants were produced from the same self-
fertilised parent. The position of the stamens in their proper place low down in
the tube of the corolla, together with the small size of the pollen-grains,
show, firstly, that the equal-styled variety is a modification of the long-
styled form, and, secondly, that the pistil is the part which has varied most,
as indeed was obvious in many of the plants. This variation is of frequent
occurrence, and is strongly inherited when it has once appeared. It would,
however, have possessed little interest if it had consisted of a mere change of
structure; but this is accompanied by modified fertility. Its occurrence
apparently stands in close relation with the illegitimate birth of the parent
plant; but to this whole subject I shall hereafter recur.
[Primula auricula.
Although I made no experiments on the illegitimate offspring of this species, I
refer to it for two reasons:--First, because I have observed two equal-styled
plants in which the pistil resembled in all respects that of the long-styled
form, whilst the stamens had become elongated as in the short-styled form, so
that the stigma was almost surrounded by the anthers.
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