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 details which have been given under the head of each species are so
numerous and so intricate, that it is necessary to tabulate the results.
In Table 7/A, the number of plants of each kind which were raised from a
cross between two individuals of the same stock and from self-fertilised
seeds, together with their mean or average heights, are given. In the
right hand column, the mean height of the crossed to that of the
self-fertilised plants, the former being taken as 100, is shown. To make
this clear, it may be advisable to give an example. In the first
generation of Ipomoea, six plants derived from a cross between two
plants were measured, and their mean height is 86.00 inches; six plants
derived from flowers on the same parent-plant fertilised with their own
pollen were measured, and their mean height is 65.66 inches. From this
it follows, as shown in the right hand column, that if the mean height
of the crossed plants be taken as 100, that of the self-fertilised
plants is 76. The same plan is followed with all the other species.
The crossed and self-fertilised plants were generally grown in pots in
competition with one another, and always under as closely similar
conditions as could be attained. They were, however, sometimes grown in
separate rows in the open ground. With several of the species, the
crossed plants were again crossed, and the self-fertilised plants again
self-fertilised, and thus successive generations were raised and
measured, as may be seen in Table 7/A. Owing to this manner of
proceeding, the crossed plants became in the later generations more or
less closely inter-related.
In Table 7/B the relative weights of the crossed and self-fertilised
plants, after they had flowered and had been cut down, are given in the
few cases in which they were ascertained. The results are, I think, more
striking and of greater value as evidence of constitutional vigour than
those deduced from the relative heights of the plants.
The most important table is Table 7/C, as it includes the relative
heights, weights, and fertility of plants raised from parents crossed by
a fresh stock (that is, by non-related plants grown under different
conditions), or by a distinct sub-variety, in comparison with
self-fertilised plants, or in a few cases with plants of the same old
stock intercrossed during several generations. The relative fertility of
the plants in this and the other tables will be more fully considered in
a future chapter.
TABLE 7/A. Relative heights of plants from parents crossed with pollen
from other plants of the same stock, and self-fertilised.
Heights of plants measured in inches.
Column 1: Name of Plant.
Column 2: Number of Crossed Plants measured.
Column 3: Average Height of Crossed Plants.
Column 4: Number of Self-fertilised Plants measured.
Column 5: Average Height of Self-fertilised Plants.
Column 6: x, where the ratio of the Average Height of the Crossed to the
Self-fertilised Plants is expressed as 100 to x.
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