Judging from what I have myself seen and from the
descriptions of others, all the plants in Britain, Germany, and near Mentone,
are in the state just described; and I have never found a single flower with an
aborted pistil. It is, therefore, remarkable that, according to Delpino, this
plant near Florence is generally trimorphic, consisting of males with aborted
pistils, females with aborted stamens, and hermaphrodites. (7/15. 'Sull' Opera,
la Distribuzione dei Sessi nelle Piante, etc' 1867 page 7. With respect to
Germany H. Muller 'Die Befruchtung etc.' page 327.)
I found it very difficult to judge of the proportional number of the two forms
at Torquay. They often grow mingled together, but with large patches consisting
of one form alone. At first I thought that the two were nearly equal in number;
but on examining every plant which grew close to the edge of a little
overhanging dry cliff, about 200 yards in length, I found only 12 females; all
the rest, some hundreds in number, being hermaphrodites. Again, on an extensive
gently sloping bank, which was so thickly covered with this plant that, viewed
from the distance of half a mile it appeared of a pink colour, I could not
discover a single female. Therefore the hermaphrodites must greatly exceed in
number the females, at least in the localities examined by me.
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