The Effects of Cross & Self-Fertilisation in the Vegetable KingdomDarwin, Charles
Science
The Effects of Cross & Self-Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom
Darwin, Charles
Fertilization of plants; Plants -- Variation; Pollination
The crossed and self-fertilised seeds from the two plants were placed on
bare sand, and very many of the crossed seeds of both sets germinated
before the self-fertilised seeds, and protruded their radicles at a
quicker rate. Hence many of the crossed seeds had to be rejected, before
pairs in an equal state of germination were obtained for planting on the
opposite sides of sixteen large pots. The two series of seedlings raised
from the parent-plants in the two Pots 2 and 5 were kept separate, and
when fully grown were measured to the tips of their highest leaves, as
shown in Table 6/88. But as there was no uniform difference in height
between the crossed and self-fertilised seedlings raised from the two
plants, their heights have been added together in calculating the
averages. I should state that by the accidental fall of a large bush in
the greenhouse, several plants in both the series were much injured.
These were at once measured together with their opponents and afterwards
thrown away. The others were left to grow to their full height, and were
measured when in flower. This accident accounts for the small height of
some of the pairs; but as all the pairs, whether only partly or fully
grown, were measured at the same time, the measurements are fair.
The average height of the twenty-six crossed plants in the sixteen pots
of the two series is 63.29, and that of the twenty-six self-fertilised
plants is 41.67 inches; or as 100 to 66. The superiority of the crossed
plants was shown in another way, for in every one of the sixteen pots a
crossed plant flowered before a self-fertilised one, with the exception
of Pot 6 of the second series, in which the plants on the two sides
flowered simultaneously.
TABLE 6/88. Nicotiana tabacum. Plants raised from two plants of the
third self-fertilised generation in Pots 2 and 5, in Table 6/87.
Heights of plants measured in inches.
Column 1: Number (Name) of Pot.
Column 2: Kew-crossed Plants, pot 2, Table 6/87.
Column 3: Plants of the fourth Self-fertilised generation, pot 2, Table
6/87.
Column 4: Kew-crossed Plants, pot 5, Table 6/87.
Column 5: Plants of the fourth Self-fertilised generation, pot 5, Table
6/87.
Pot 1 : 84 6/8 : 68 4/8 : 77 6/8 : 56.
Pot 1 : 31 : 5 : 7 2/8 : 5 3/8.
Pot 2 : 78 4/8 : 51 4/8 : 55 4/8 : 27 6/8.
Pot 2 : 48 : 70 : 18 : 7.
Pot 3 : 77 3/8 : 12 6/8 : 76 2/8 : 60 6/8.
Pot 3 : 77 1/8 : 6 6/8.
Pot 4 : 49 2/8 : 29 4/8 : 90 4/8 : 11 6/8.
Pot 4 : 15 6/8 : 32 : 22 2/8 : 4 1/8.
Pot 5 : 89 : 85 : 94 2/8 : 28 4/8.
Pot 5 : 17 : 5 3/8.
Pot 6 : 90 : 80 : 78 : 78 6/8.
Pot 7 : 84 4/8 : 48 6/8 : 85 4/8 : 61 4/8.
Pot 7 : 76 4/8 : 56 4/8.
Pot 8 : 83 4/8 : 84 4/8 : 65 5/8 : 78 3/8.
Pot 8 : : : 72 2/8 : 27 4/8.
Total : 902.63 : 636.13 : 743.13 : 447.38.
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