The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species by Charles Robert Darwin (top fiction books of all time txt) 📖
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97. These plants, therefore, not only have lost their proper heterostyled structure and peculiar functional powers, but have acquired an abnormal grade of fertility--unless, indeed, their high fertility may be accounted for by the stigmas receiving pollen from the circumjacent anthers at exactly the most favourable period.
With respect to Mr. Duck's lot in Table 5.31, seed was saved from a single plant, of which the form was not observed, and this produced nine equal-styled and twenty long-styled plants. The equal-styled resembled in all respects those previously described; and eight of their capsules spontaneously self-fertilised contained on an average 44.4 seeds, with a maximum of 61 and a minimum of 23. In regard to the twenty long-styled plants, the pistil in some of the flowers did not project quite so high as in ordinary long-styled flowers; and the stigmas, though properly elongated, were smooth; so that we have here a slight approach in structure to the pistil of the short-styled form. Some of these long-styled plants also approached the equal-styled in function; for one of them produced no less than fifteen spontaneously self-fertilised capsules, and of these eight contained, on an average, 31.7 seeds, with a maximum of 61. This average would be rather low for a long-styled plant artificially fertilised with its own pollen, but is high for one spontaneously self-fertilised. For instance, thirty- four capsules produced by the illegitimate grandchildren of a long-styled plant, spontaneously self-fertilised, contained on an average only 9.1 seeds, with a maximum of 46. Some seeds indiscriminately saved from the foregoing twenty-nine equal-styled and long-styled plants produced sixteen seedlings, grandchildren of the original plant belonging to Mr. Duck; and these consisted of fourteen equal- styled and two long-styled plants; and I mention this fact as an additional instance of the transmission of the equal-styled variety.
The third lot in Table 5.31, namely the Baston plants, are the last which need be mentioned. The long and short-styled plants, and the fifteen equal-styled plants, were descended from two distinct stocks. The latter were derived from a single plant, which the gardener is positive was not long-styled; hence, probably, it was equal-styled. In all these fifteen plants the anthers, occupying the same position as in the long-styled form, closely surrounded the stigma, which in one instance alone was slightly elongated. Notwithstanding this position of the stigma, the flowers, as the gardener assured me, did not yield many seeds; and this difference from the foregoing cases may perhaps have been caused by the pollen being bad, as in some of the Southampton equal-styled plants.]
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. The pollen-grains, however, of the elongated stamens resembled in their small size those of the shorter stamens proper to the long-styled form. Hence these plants have become equal-styled by the increased length of the stamens, instead of, as with P. Sinensis, by the diminished length of the pistil. Mr. J. Scott observed five other plants in the same state, and he shows that one of them, when self- fertilised, yielded more seed than an ordinary long- or short-styled form would have done when similarly fertilised, but that it was far inferior in fertility to either form when legitimately crossed. (5/8. 'Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society' 8 1864 page 91.) Hence it appears that the male and female organs of this equal-styled variety have been modified in some special manner, not only in structure but in functional powers. This, moreover, is shown by the singular fact that both the long-styled and short-styled plants, fertilised with pollen from the equal-styled variety, yield a lower average of seed than when these two forms are fertilised with their own pollen.
The second point which deserves notice is that florists always throw away the long-styled plants, and save seed exclusively from the short-styled form. Nevertheless, as Mr. Scott was informed by a man who raises this species extensively in Scotland, about one-fourth of the seedlings appear long-styled; so that the short-styled form of the Auricula, when fertilised by its own pollen, does not reproduce the same form in so large a proportion as in the case of P. Sinensis. We may further infer that the short-styled form is not rendered quite sterile by a long course of fertilisation with pollen of the same form: but as there would always be some liability to an occasional cross with the other form, we cannot tell how long self-fertilisation has been continued.
Primula farinosa.
Mr. Scott says that it is not at all uncommon to find equal-styled plants of this heterostyled species. (5/9. 'Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society' 8 1864 page 115.) Judging from the size of the pollen-grains, these plants owe their structure, as in the case of P. auricula, to the abnormal elongation of the stamens of the long-styled form. In accordance with this view, they yield less seed when crossed with the long-styled form than with the short- styled. But they differ in an anomalous manner from the equal-styled plants of P. auricula in being extremely sterile with their own pollen.
Primula elatior.
It was shown in the first chapter, on the authority of Herr Breitenbach, that equal-styled flowers are occasionally found on this species whilst growing in a state of nature; and this is the only instance of such an occurrence known to me, with the exception of some wild plants of the Oxlip--a hybrid between P. veris and vulgaris--which were equal-styled. Herr Breitenbach's case is remarkable in another way; for equal-styled flowers were found in two instances on plants which bore both long-styled and short-styled flowers. In every other instance these two forms and the equal-styled variety have been produced by distinct plants.]
Primula vulgaris, BRIT. FL.
VAR. acaulis OF LINN. AND P. acaulis OF JACQ.
VAR. RUBRA.
Mr. Scott states that this variety, which grew in the Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, was quite sterile when fertilised with pollen from the common primrose, as well as from a white variety of the same species, but that some of the plants, when artificially fertilised with their own pollen, yielded a moderate supply of seed. (5/10. 'Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society' 8 1864 page 98.) He was so kind as to send me some of these self- fertilised seeds, from which I raised the plants immediately to be described. I may premise that the results of my experiments on the seedlings, made on a large scale, do not accord with those by Mr. Scott on the parent-plant.
First, in regard to the transmission of form and colour. The parent-plant was long-styled, and of a rich purple colour. From the self-fertilised seed 23 plants were raised; of these 18 were purple of different shades, with two of them a little streaked and freckled with yellow, thus showing a tendency to reversion; and 5 were yellow, but generally with a brighter orange centre than in the wild flower. All the plants were profuse flowerers. All were long-styled; but the pistil varied a good deal in length even on the same plant, being rather shorter, or considerably longer, than in the normal long-styled form; and the stigmas likewise varied in shape. It is, therefore, probable that an equal- styled variety of the primrose might be found on careful search; and I have received two accounts of plants apparently in this condition. The stamens always occupied their proper position low down in the corolla; and the pollen-grains were of the small size proper to the long-styled form, but were mingled with many minute and shrivelled grains. The yellow-flowered and the purple-flowered plants of this first generation were fertilised under a net with their own pollen, and the seed separately sown. From the former, 22 plants were raised, and all were yellow and long-styled. From the latter or the purple-flowered plants, 24 long-styled plants were raised, of which 17 were purple and 7 yellow. In this last case we have an instance of reversion in colour, without the possibility of any cross, to the grandparents or more distant progenitors of the plants in question. Altogether 23 plants in the first generation and 46 in the second generation were raised; and the whole of these 69 illegitimate plants were long-styled!
Eight purple-flowered and two yellow-flowered plants of the first illegitimate generation were fertilised in various ways with their own pollen and with that of the common primrose; and the seeds were separately counted, but as I could detect no difference in fertility between the purple and yellow varieties, the results are run together in Table 5.32.
TABLE 5.32. Primula vulgaris.
Column 1: Nature of plant experimented on, and kind of union. Column 2: Number of flowers fertilised. Column 3: Number of capsules produced. Column 4: Average Number of seeds per capsule. Column 5: Maximum Number of seeds in any one capsule. Column 6: Minimum Number of seeds in any one capsule.
Purple- and yellow-flowered illegitimate long-styled plants, ILLEGITIMATELY fertilised with pollen from the same plant : 72 : 11 : 11.5 : 26 : 5.
Purple- and yellow-flowered illegitimate long-styled plants, ILLEGITIMATELY fertilised with pollen from the common long-styled primrose : 72 : 39 : 31.4 : 62 : 3.
Or, if the ten poorest capsules, including less than 15 seeds, be rejected, we get: 72 : 29 : 40.6 : 62 : 18.
Purple- and yellow-flowered illegitimate long-styled plants, LEGITIMATELY fertilised with pollen from the common short-styled primrose : 26 : 18 : 36.4 : 60 : 9.
Or, if the two poorest capsules, including less than 15 seeds, be rejected, we get: 26 : 16 : 41.2 : 60 : 15.
The long-styled form of the common primrose ILLEGITIMATELY fertilised with pollen from the long-styled illegitimate purple- and yellow-flowered plants: 20 : 14 : 15.4 : 46 : 1.
Or, if the three poorest capsules be rejected, we get: 20 : 11 : 18.9 : 46 : 8.
The short-styled form of the common primrose LEGITIMATELY fertilised with pollen from the long-styled illegitimate purple- and yellow-flowered plants: 10 : 6 : 30.5 : 61 : 6.
If we compare the figures in this table with those given in the first chapter, showing the normal fertility of the common primrose, we shall see that the illegitimate purple- and yellow-flowered varieties are very sterile. For instance, 72 flowers were fertilised with their own pollen and produced only 11 good capsules; but by the standard they ought to have produced 48
With respect to Mr. Duck's lot in Table 5.31, seed was saved from a single plant, of which the form was not observed, and this produced nine equal-styled and twenty long-styled plants. The equal-styled resembled in all respects those previously described; and eight of their capsules spontaneously self-fertilised contained on an average 44.4 seeds, with a maximum of 61 and a minimum of 23. In regard to the twenty long-styled plants, the pistil in some of the flowers did not project quite so high as in ordinary long-styled flowers; and the stigmas, though properly elongated, were smooth; so that we have here a slight approach in structure to the pistil of the short-styled form. Some of these long-styled plants also approached the equal-styled in function; for one of them produced no less than fifteen spontaneously self-fertilised capsules, and of these eight contained, on an average, 31.7 seeds, with a maximum of 61. This average would be rather low for a long-styled plant artificially fertilised with its own pollen, but is high for one spontaneously self-fertilised. For instance, thirty- four capsules produced by the illegitimate grandchildren of a long-styled plant, spontaneously self-fertilised, contained on an average only 9.1 seeds, with a maximum of 46. Some seeds indiscriminately saved from the foregoing twenty-nine equal-styled and long-styled plants produced sixteen seedlings, grandchildren of the original plant belonging to Mr. Duck; and these consisted of fourteen equal- styled and two long-styled plants; and I mention this fact as an additional instance of the transmission of the equal-styled variety.
The third lot in Table 5.31, namely the Baston plants, are the last which need be mentioned. The long and short-styled plants, and the fifteen equal-styled plants, were descended from two distinct stocks. The latter were derived from a single plant, which the gardener is positive was not long-styled; hence, probably, it was equal-styled. In all these fifteen plants the anthers, occupying the same position as in the long-styled form, closely surrounded the stigma, which in one instance alone was slightly elongated. Notwithstanding this position of the stigma, the flowers, as the gardener assured me, did not yield many seeds; and this difference from the foregoing cases may perhaps have been caused by the pollen being bad, as in some of the Southampton equal-styled plants.]
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. The pollen-grains, however, of the elongated stamens resembled in their small size those of the shorter stamens proper to the long-styled form. Hence these plants have become equal-styled by the increased length of the stamens, instead of, as with P. Sinensis, by the diminished length of the pistil. Mr. J. Scott observed five other plants in the same state, and he shows that one of them, when self- fertilised, yielded more seed than an ordinary long- or short-styled form would have done when similarly fertilised, but that it was far inferior in fertility to either form when legitimately crossed. (5/8. 'Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society' 8 1864 page 91.) Hence it appears that the male and female organs of this equal-styled variety have been modified in some special manner, not only in structure but in functional powers. This, moreover, is shown by the singular fact that both the long-styled and short-styled plants, fertilised with pollen from the equal-styled variety, yield a lower average of seed than when these two forms are fertilised with their own pollen.
The second point which deserves notice is that florists always throw away the long-styled plants, and save seed exclusively from the short-styled form. Nevertheless, as Mr. Scott was informed by a man who raises this species extensively in Scotland, about one-fourth of the seedlings appear long-styled; so that the short-styled form of the Auricula, when fertilised by its own pollen, does not reproduce the same form in so large a proportion as in the case of P. Sinensis. We may further infer that the short-styled form is not rendered quite sterile by a long course of fertilisation with pollen of the same form: but as there would always be some liability to an occasional cross with the other form, we cannot tell how long self-fertilisation has been continued.
Primula farinosa.
Mr. Scott says that it is not at all uncommon to find equal-styled plants of this heterostyled species. (5/9. 'Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society' 8 1864 page 115.) Judging from the size of the pollen-grains, these plants owe their structure, as in the case of P. auricula, to the abnormal elongation of the stamens of the long-styled form. In accordance with this view, they yield less seed when crossed with the long-styled form than with the short- styled. But they differ in an anomalous manner from the equal-styled plants of P. auricula in being extremely sterile with their own pollen.
Primula elatior.
It was shown in the first chapter, on the authority of Herr Breitenbach, that equal-styled flowers are occasionally found on this species whilst growing in a state of nature; and this is the only instance of such an occurrence known to me, with the exception of some wild plants of the Oxlip--a hybrid between P. veris and vulgaris--which were equal-styled. Herr Breitenbach's case is remarkable in another way; for equal-styled flowers were found in two instances on plants which bore both long-styled and short-styled flowers. In every other instance these two forms and the equal-styled variety have been produced by distinct plants.]
Primula vulgaris, BRIT. FL.
VAR. acaulis OF LINN. AND P. acaulis OF JACQ.
VAR. RUBRA.
Mr. Scott states that this variety, which grew in the Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, was quite sterile when fertilised with pollen from the common primrose, as well as from a white variety of the same species, but that some of the plants, when artificially fertilised with their own pollen, yielded a moderate supply of seed. (5/10. 'Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society' 8 1864 page 98.) He was so kind as to send me some of these self- fertilised seeds, from which I raised the plants immediately to be described. I may premise that the results of my experiments on the seedlings, made on a large scale, do not accord with those by Mr. Scott on the parent-plant.
First, in regard to the transmission of form and colour. The parent-plant was long-styled, and of a rich purple colour. From the self-fertilised seed 23 plants were raised; of these 18 were purple of different shades, with two of them a little streaked and freckled with yellow, thus showing a tendency to reversion; and 5 were yellow, but generally with a brighter orange centre than in the wild flower. All the plants were profuse flowerers. All were long-styled; but the pistil varied a good deal in length even on the same plant, being rather shorter, or considerably longer, than in the normal long-styled form; and the stigmas likewise varied in shape. It is, therefore, probable that an equal- styled variety of the primrose might be found on careful search; and I have received two accounts of plants apparently in this condition. The stamens always occupied their proper position low down in the corolla; and the pollen-grains were of the small size proper to the long-styled form, but were mingled with many minute and shrivelled grains. The yellow-flowered and the purple-flowered plants of this first generation were fertilised under a net with their own pollen, and the seed separately sown. From the former, 22 plants were raised, and all were yellow and long-styled. From the latter or the purple-flowered plants, 24 long-styled plants were raised, of which 17 were purple and 7 yellow. In this last case we have an instance of reversion in colour, without the possibility of any cross, to the grandparents or more distant progenitors of the plants in question. Altogether 23 plants in the first generation and 46 in the second generation were raised; and the whole of these 69 illegitimate plants were long-styled!
Eight purple-flowered and two yellow-flowered plants of the first illegitimate generation were fertilised in various ways with their own pollen and with that of the common primrose; and the seeds were separately counted, but as I could detect no difference in fertility between the purple and yellow varieties, the results are run together in Table 5.32.
TABLE 5.32. Primula vulgaris.
Column 1: Nature of plant experimented on, and kind of union. Column 2: Number of flowers fertilised. Column 3: Number of capsules produced. Column 4: Average Number of seeds per capsule. Column 5: Maximum Number of seeds in any one capsule. Column 6: Minimum Number of seeds in any one capsule.
Purple- and yellow-flowered illegitimate long-styled plants, ILLEGITIMATELY fertilised with pollen from the same plant : 72 : 11 : 11.5 : 26 : 5.
Purple- and yellow-flowered illegitimate long-styled plants, ILLEGITIMATELY fertilised with pollen from the common long-styled primrose : 72 : 39 : 31.4 : 62 : 3.
Or, if the ten poorest capsules, including less than 15 seeds, be rejected, we get: 72 : 29 : 40.6 : 62 : 18.
Purple- and yellow-flowered illegitimate long-styled plants, LEGITIMATELY fertilised with pollen from the common short-styled primrose : 26 : 18 : 36.4 : 60 : 9.
Or, if the two poorest capsules, including less than 15 seeds, be rejected, we get: 26 : 16 : 41.2 : 60 : 15.
The long-styled form of the common primrose ILLEGITIMATELY fertilised with pollen from the long-styled illegitimate purple- and yellow-flowered plants: 20 : 14 : 15.4 : 46 : 1.
Or, if the three poorest capsules be rejected, we get: 20 : 11 : 18.9 : 46 : 8.
The short-styled form of the common primrose LEGITIMATELY fertilised with pollen from the long-styled illegitimate purple- and yellow-flowered plants: 10 : 6 : 30.5 : 61 : 6.
If we compare the figures in this table with those given in the first chapter, showing the normal fertility of the common primrose, we shall see that the illegitimate purple- and yellow-flowered varieties are very sterile. For instance, 72 flowers were fertilised with their own pollen and produced only 11 good capsules; but by the standard they ought to have produced 48
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