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Show 82 HETEROSTYLED DIMORPHIC PLANTS. CnAP. III. I.m portant a·I S t"1 nc t"1 on 1·s , that the :five stigmas in the• short-styled form diverge greatly from one another, and pass out between the :filaments of the stamens, Fig. 4. Long-sty leu form. Short-styled form. 8 8 stigmas. T"INUM Gll.ANDIFLORUM. and thus lie within the tube of the corolla. In the long-styled form the elongated stigmas stand_ nearly upright, and alternate with the anthe~s. In t~1s latter form the length of the stigmas vanes cor:sHlerably, their upper extremities projecting even a h~tle ~bove the anthers, or reaching up only to about their m1ddl.e. Nevertheless 'there is never the slightest difficulty In distinguishi~g between the two forms ; ~or, besides the. difference in the divergence of the stigmas, those o£ the short-sty led form never reach even to the ba~es of the anthers. In this form the papillro on the stigmatic surfaces are shorter, darker-coloured, and more crowded together than in the long-sty led form ; ?ut these differences seem due merely to the shortening of the stigma, for in the varieties of the long-styled form with shorter stigmas, the papillre are more crowded and darker-coloured than in those with the longer CH.u: III. LINUM GRANDIFLORUM. 83 stigmas. Considering the slight and variable differences between the two forms of this Linum it is not surprising that hitherto they have been overlooked. ~n 1861 I had eleven plants in my garden, eight of which were long-sty led, and three short-sty led. Two very fine long-styled plants grew in a bed a hundred yards off all the others, and separated from them by a screen of evergreens. I marked twelve flowers, and placed on their stigmas a little pollen from the short styled plants. The pollen of the two forms is ns stated, identical in appearance ; the stigmas of 'the lon?-styled flowers were already thickly covered with their own pollen--so thcikly that I could not find one bare stigma, and it was late in the season, namely, September 15th. Altogether, it seemed almost childish to expect a~ y result. N evcrtheless from my expcriments on Pnmula, I had faith, and did not hesitate to make the trial, but certainly did not anticipate the full result which was obtained. The germ ens of these twelve flowers all swelled, and ultimately six fine capsules (the seed of which germinated on the followinoyear) and two poor capsules were produced; only fo~~ capsules shanking_ off. These same two long-~tyled plants produced, In the course of the summer, a vast nlnnber of flowers, the stigmas of which were covered with their own pollen; but they all proved absolutely barren, and their gennens did not even swell. The nine other plants, six long-sty led an <.I three short-styled, grew not very far apart in my flowergarden. Four of these long-styled plants produced no ~eed-capsules; the fifth produced two; and the rmnainIng. one grew so close to a short-styled plant that then branches touched, and this produced twelve capsules, but they were poor ones. rrhe case was different- G 2 |
