The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species by Charles Robert Darwin (top fiction books of all time txt) 📖

the other two forms. Thus the grains from the longest stamens of the mid-styled form are 9 to 10, whilst those from the corresponding stamens of the short-styled form are 9 1/2 to 10 1/2 in diameter. So, again, the grains from the shortest stamens of the mid-styled are 6, whilst those from the corresponding stamens of the long- styled are 6 to 6 1/2 in diameter. It would thus appear as if the male organs of the mid-styled form, though not as yet rudimentary, were tending in this direction. On the other hand, the female organs of this form are in an eminently efficient state, for the naturally fertilised capsules yielded a considerably larger average number of seeds than those of the other two forms--almost every flower which was artificially fertilised in a legitimate manner produced a capsule--and most of the illegitimate unions were highly productive. The mid- styled form thus appears to be highly feminine in nature; and although, as just remarked, it is impossible to consider its two well-developed sets of stamens which produce an abundance of pollen as being in a rudimentary condition, yet we can hardly avoid connecting as balanced the higher efficiency of the female organs in this form with the lesser efficiency and lesser size of its two kinds of pollen-grains. The whole case appears to me a very curious one.
It may be observed in Tables 4.23 to 4.25 that some of the illegitimate unions yielded during neither year a single seed; but, judging from the long-styled plants, it is probable, if such unions were to be effected repeatedly by the aid of insects under the most favourable conditions, some few seeds would be produced in every case. Anyhow, it is certain that in all twelve illegitimate unions the pollen-tubes penetrated the stigma in the course of eighteen hours. At first I thought that two kinds of pollen placed together on the same stigma would perhaps yield more seed than one kind by itself; but we have seen that this is not so with each form's own two kinds of pollen; nor is it probable in any case, as I occasionally got, by the use of a single kind of pollen, fully as many seeds as a capsule naturally fertilised ever produces. Moreover the pollen from a single anther is far more than sufficient to fertilise fully a stigma; hence, in this as with so many other plants, more than twelve times as much of each kind of pollen is produced as is necessary to ensure the full fertilisation of each form. From the dusted condition of the bodies of the bees which I caught on the flowers, it is probable that pollen of various kinds is often deposited on all three stigmas; but from the facts already given with respect to the two forms of Primula, there can hardly be a doubt that pollen from the stamens of corresponding length placed on a stigma would be prepotent over any other kind of pollen and obliterate its effects,--even if the latter had been placed on the stigma some hours previously.
Finally, it has now been shown that Lythrum salicaria presents the extraordinary case of the same species bearing three females, different in structure and function, and three or even five sets (if minor differences are considered) of males; each set consisting of half-a-dozen, which likewise differ from one another in structure and function.
[Lythrum Graefferi.
I have examined numerous dried flowers of this species, each from a separate plant, sent me from Kew. Like L. salicaria, it is trimorphic, and the three forms apparently occur in about equal numbers. In the long-styled form the pistil projects about one-third of the length of the calyx beyond its mouth, and is therefore relatively much shorter than in L. salicaria; the globose and hirsute stigma is larger than that of the other two forms; the six mid-length stamens, which are graduated in length, have their anthers standing close above and close beneath the mouth of the calyx; the six shortest stamens rise rather above the middle of the calyx. In the mid-styled form the stigma projects just above the mouth of the calyx, and stands almost on a level with the mid-length stamens of the long and short-styled forms; its own longest stamens project well above the mouth of the calyx, and stand a little above the level of the stigma of the long-styled form. In short, without entering on further details, there is a close general correspondence in structure between this species and L. salicaria, but with some differences in the proportional lengths of the parts. The fact of each of the three pistils having two sets of stamens of corresponding lengths, borne by the two other forms, comes out conspicuously. In the mid-styled form the pollen-grains from the longest stamens are nearly double the diameter of those from the shortest stamens; so that there is a greater difference in this respect than in L. salicaria. In the long-styled form, also, the difference in diameter between the pollen-grains of the mid-length and shortest stamens is greater than in L. salicaria. These comparisons, however, must be received with caution, as they were made on specimens soaked in water after having been long kept dry.
Lythrum thymifolia.
This form, according to Vaucher, is dimorphic, like Primula, and therefore presents only two forms. (4/8. 'Hist. Phys. des Plantes d'Europe' tome 2 1841 pages 369, 371.) I received two dried flowers from Kew, which consisted of the two forms; in one the stigma projected far beyond the calyx, in the other it was included within the calyx; in this latter form the style was only one-fourth of the length of that in the other form. There are only six stamens; these are somewhat graduated in length, and their anthers in the short-styled form stand a little above the stigma, but yet by no means equal in length the pistil of the long-styled form. In the latter the stamens are rather shorter than those in the other form. The six stamens alternate with the petals, and therefore correspond homologically with the longest stamens of L. salicaria and L. Graefferi.
Lythrum hyssopifolia.
This species is said by Vaucher, but I believe erroneously, to be dimorphic. I have examined dried flowers from twenty-two separate plants from various localities, sent to me by Mr. Hewett C. Watson, Professor Babington, and others. These were all essentially alike, so that the species cannot be heterostyled. The pistil varies somewhat in length, but when unusually long, the stamens are likewise generally long; in the bud the stamens are short; and Vaucher was perhaps thus deceived. There are from six to nine stamens, graduated in length. The three stamens, which vary in being either present or absent, correspond with the six shorter stamens of L. salicaria and with the six which are always absent in L. thymifolia. The stigma is included within the calyx, and stands in the midst of the anthers, and would generally be fertilised by them; but as the stigma and anthers are upturned, and as, according to Vaucher, there is a passage left in the upper side of the flower to the nectary, there can hardly be a doubt that the flowers are visited by insects, and would occasionally be cross-fertilised by them, as surely as the flowers of the short-styled L. salicaria, the pistil of which and the corresponding stamens in the other two forms closely resemble those of L. hyssopifolia. According to Vaucher and Lecoq, this species, which is an annual, generally grows almost solitarily (4/9. 'Geograph. Bot. de l'Europe' tome 6 1857 page 157.), whereas the three preceding species are social; and this fact alone would almost have convinced me that L. hyssopifolia was not heterostyled, as such plants cannot habitually live isolated any better than one sex of a dioecious species.
We thus see that within this genus some species are heterostyled and trimorphic; one apparently heterostyled and dimorphic, and one homostyled.
Nesaea verticillata.
I raised a number of plants from seed sent me by Professor Asa Gray, and they presented three forms. These differed from one another in the proportional lengths of their organs of fructification and in all respects, in very nearly the same way as the three forms of Lythrum Graefferi. The green pollen-grains from the longest stamens, measured along their longer axis and not distended with water, were 13/7000 of an inch in length; those from the mid-length stamens 9 to 10/7000, and those from the shortest stamens 8 to 9/7000 of an inch. So that the largest pollen-grains are to the smallest in diameter as 100 to 65. This plant inhabits swampy ground in the United States. According to Fritz Muller, a species of this genus in St. Catharina, in Southern Brazil, is homostyled. (4/10. 'Botanische Zeitung' 1868 page 112.)
Lagerstroemia Indica.
This plant, a member of the Lythraceae, may perhaps be heterostyled, or may formerly have been so. It is remarkable from the extreme variability of its stamens. On a plant, growing in my hothouse, the flowers included from nineteen to twenty-nine short stamens with yellow pollen, which correspond in position with the shortest stamens of Lythrum; and from one to five (the latter number being the commonest) very long stamens, with thick flesh-coloured filaments and green pollen, corresponding in position with the longest stamens of Lythrum. In one flower, two of the long stamens produced green, while a third produced yellow pollen, although the filaments of all three were thick and flesh- coloured. In an anther of another flower, one cell contained green and the other yellow pollen. The green and yellow pollen-grains from the stamens of different length are of the same size. The pistil is a little bowed upwards, with the stigma seated between the anthers of the short and long stamens, so that this plant was mid-styled. Eight flowers were fertilised with green pollen, and six with yellow pollen, but not one set fruit. This latter fact by no means proves that the plant is heterostyled, as it may belong to the class of self-sterile species. Another plant growing in the Botanic Gardens at Calcutta, as Mr. J. Scott informs me, was long-styled, and it was equally sterile with its own pollen; whilst a long-styled plant of L. reginae, though growing by itself, produced fruit. I examined dried flowers from two plants of L. parviflora, both of which were long-styled, and they differed from L. Indica in having eight long stamens with thick filaments, and a crowd of shorter stamens. Thus the evidence whether L. Indica is heterostyled is curiously conflicting: the unequal number of the short and long stamens, their extreme variability, and especially the fact of their pollen-grains not differing in size, are strongly opposed to this belief; on the other hand, the difference in length of the pistils in two of the plants, their sterility with their own pollen, and the difference in length and structure of the two sets of stamens in the same flower, and in the colour of their pollen, favour the belief. We know that when plants of any kind revert to a former condition, they are apt to be highly variable, and the two halves of the same organ sometimes differ much, as in the case of the above-described anther of the Lagerstroemia; we may therefore suspect that this species was once heterostyled, and that it still retains traces of its former state, together with a tendency to revert more completely to it. It deserves notice, as bearing on the nature of Lagerstroemia, that in Lythrum hyssopifolia, which is a homostyled species, some of the shorter stamens vary in being either present or absent; and that these same stamens are altogether absent in L. thymifolia. In another genus of the Lythraceae, namely Cuphea, three species raised by me from seed certainly were homostyled; nevertheless their stamens consisted of two sets, differing in length and in the colour and thickness of