OCR Text |
Show ESCHSCHOLTZIA CALIFORNICA. CHAP. IV. No. of Pot. Crossed Plants. Self-fertilised Plants. Inches. Inches. I. 33-g 25 - II. 34~ 35 -- III. 29 27 ~ 1- -·- - -- IV. 22 15 -· Total in inches. 118 •75 - ~- 102· 25 * Prof. Hildebrand experimented on plants in Gerll?any on a larger scale than I dul, a;nd found them much more self-stenle. Eighteen capsults, pr~duccd by cross-fertilisation, coutamed on an - average eJghty· fi v~. se eds s~ lfw-fehritlis·t fourteen capsules I?m d on an 1. d flowers contame . 1se . ecds. that JS, averag-e only ~IJneh ~b fiil: Wissen. as 1 00 to 11 : .. a 1 'G7 Botanik.' l3. vn. P· 4 · CHAP. IV. ESCHSCHOLTZIA CALIFORNICA. 111 the cases which follow that this result was accidental, owing to only a few plants having been measured, and to one of the self-fertilised plants having grown only to a height of 15 inche ·. The plants had been kept in the greenhouse, and from being drawn up to the light had to be tied to sticks in this and the ffloolwloewr-isntge mtsr.i als. They were measured to the summits of thcil· The four crossed plants here average 29 · 68 inches, and the four self-fertilised 25 ·56 in height; or as 100 to 86. The Temaining seeds were sown in a large pot in which a Cineraria had long been growing; and in this case again the two crossed plants on the one side greatly exceeded in height the two selffertilised plants on the opposite side. The plants in the above four pots from having been kept in the greenhouse did not produce on this or any other similar occasion many capsules; but the flowers on the crossed plants when again crossed were much 1norc productive than the flowers on· the self-fertilised plants when again self-fertilised. These plants after seeding were cut down and kept in the greenhouse; and in the following year, when grown again, their relative heights wem I'eversed, as the sclf-fm·tilised plants in three out of the four ppolatns tsw. ere now taller than and flowered befo1·e the crossed Grossr:d and self-fertilised Plants qfthe Second Generatt'on.-The fact just given with respect to the growth of the cut-down plants made me doubtful about my first trial, so I determined to make another on a larger scale with crossed and self-fertilised seedlings raised fr9m the crossed and self-fertilised plants of the last genm·ation. Eleven pairs were raised and grown in competition in the usual manner; and now the I'esult was different, for the two lots were nearly equal during their whole growth. It would therefore be superfluous to give a table of their heights. When fully grown and measured, the crossed averaged 32 · 47, and the self-fertilised 32 · 81 inches in height ; or as 100 to 101. There was no gTeat difference in the number of flowers and capsules produced by the two lots. when both were left freely exposed to the vi its of insects. Plants raised from Brazilian S.ed.-Fritz Miiller sent me from South Brazil seeds of plants which were there absolutely sterile when fm·tilise 1 with pollen from the same plant, but were perfectly fertile when fertilised with pollen f1·om any other plant. The plants raised by me in England fmm these |