Now, when the above
twelve apparently short-styled seedlings were similarly treated, nearly all
produced a great abundance of capsules, containing numerous seeds, which
germinated remarkably well. Moreover three of these plants, which during the
first year were furnished with quite short pistils, on the following year
produced pistils of extraordinary length. The greater number, therefore, of
these short-styled plants could not be distinguished in function from the equal-
styled variety. The anthers in the six equal-styled and in the apparently twelve
short-styled plants were seated high up in the corolla, as in the true short-
styled cowslip; and the pollen-grains resembled those of the same form in their
large size, but were mingled with a few shrivelled grains. In function this
pollen was identical with that of the short-styled cowslip; for ten long-styled
flowers of the common cowslip, legitimately fertilised with pollen from a true
equal-styled variety, produced six capsules, containing on an average 34.4
seeds; whilst seven capsules on a short-styled cowslip illegitimately fertilised
with pollen from the equal-styled variety, yielded an average of only 14.5
seeds.
As the equal-styled plants differ from one another in their powers of
reproduction, and as this is an important subject, I will give a few details
with respect to five of them.
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