The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same SpeciesDarwin, Charles
Science
The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species
Darwin, Charles
Fertilization of plants; Heterostylism; Plant physiology; Plants -- Variation; Pollination
In 1861 I had eleven plants in my garden, eight of which were long-styled, and
three short-styled. 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, as stated, identical in
appearance; the stigmas of the long-styled flowers were already thickly covered
with their own pollen--so thickly 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 any result. Nevertheless from my experiments on Primula, I
had faith, and did not hesitate to make the trial, but certainly did not
anticipate the full result which was obtained. The germens of these twelve
flowers all swelled, and ultimately six fine capsules (the seed of which
germinated on the following year) and two poor capsules were produced; only four
capsules shanking off. These same two long-styled plants produced, in the course
of the summer, a vast number of flowers, the stigmas of which were covered with
their own pollen; but they all proved absolutely barren, and their germens did
not even swell.
The nine other plants, six long-styled and three short-styled, grew not very far
apart in my flower-garden. Four of these long-styled plants produced no seed-
capsules; the fifth produced two; and the remaining one grew so close to a
short-styled plant that their branches touched, and this produced twelve
capsules, but they were poor ones. The case was different with the short-styled
plants. The one which grew close to the long-styled plant produced ninety-four
imperfectly fertilised capsules containing a multitude of bad seeds, with a
moderate number of good ones. The two other short-styled plants growing together
were small, being partly smothered by other plants; they did not stand very
close to any long-styled plants, yet they yielded together nineteen capsules.
These facts seem to show that the short-styled plants are more fertile with
their own pollen than are the long-styled, and we shall immediately see that
this probably is the case. But I suspect that the difference in fertility
between the two forms was in this instance in part due to a distinct cause. I
repeatedly watched the flowers, and only once saw a humble-bee momentarily
alight on one, and then fly away. If bees had visited the several plants, there
cannot be a doubt that the four long-styled plants, which did not produce a
single capsule, would have borne an abundance. But several times I saw small
diptera sucking the flowers; and these insects, though not visiting the flowers
with anything like the regularity of bees, would carry a little pollen from one
form to the other, especially when growing near together; and the stigmas of the
short-styled plants, diverging within the tube of the corolla, would be more
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