Nevertheless
some of the anthers contained pollen, with which I succeeded in fertilising some
flowers on the illegitimate long-styled plants immediately to be described. Four
flowers on this same short-styled plant were likewise LEGITIMATELY fertilised
with pollen from one of the following long-styled plants; but only one capsule
was produced, containing 26 seeds; and this is a very low number for a
legitimate union.
With respect to the five illegitimate long-styled plants of the first
generation, derived from the above self-fertilised short-styled and long-styled
parents, their fertility was observed during the same three years. These five
plants, when self-fertilised, differed considerably from one another in their
degree of fertility, as was the case with the illegitimate long-styled plants of
Lythrum salicaria; and their fertility varied much according to the season. I
may premise, as a standard of comparison, that during the same years 56 flowers
on legitimate long-styled plants of the same age and grown in the same soil,
were fertilised with their own pollen, and yielded 27 capsules; that is, 48 per
cent. On one of the five illegitimate long-styled plants 36 flowers were self-
fertilised in the course of the three years, but they did not produce a single
capsule. Many of the anthers on this plant were contabescent; but some seemed to
contain sound pollen.
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