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
In sixteen out of these nineteen pairs, the Colchester-crossed plant
exceeded in height its intercrossed opponent. The average height of the
Colchester-crossed is 84.03 inches, and that of the intercrossed 65.78
inches; or as 100 to 78. With respect to the fertility of the two lots,
it was too troublesome to collect and count the capsules on all the
plants; so I selected two of the best pots, 5 and 6, and in these the
Colchester-crossed produced 269 mature and half-mature capsules, whilst
an equal number of the intercrossed plants produced only 154 capsules;
or as 100 to 57. By weight the capsules from the Colchester-crossed
plants were to those from the intercrossed plants as 100 to 51; so that
the former probably contained a somewhat larger average number of
seeds.]
We learn from this important experiment that plants in some degree
related, which had been intercrossed during the nine previous
generations, when they were fertilised with pollen from a fresh stock,
yielded seedlings as superior to the seedlings of the tenth intercrossed
generation, as these latter were to the self-fertilised plants of the
corresponding generation. For if we look to the plants of the ninth
generation in Table 2/10 (and these offer in most respects the fairest
standard of comparison) we find that the intercrossed plants were in
height to the self-fertilised as 100 to 79, and in fertility as 100 to
26; whilst the Colchester-crossed plants are in height to the
intercrossed as 100 to 78, and in fertility as 100 to 51.
[THE DESCENDANTS OF THE SELF-FERTILISED PLANT, NAMED HERO, WHICH
APPEARED IN THE SIXTH SELF-FERTILISED GENERATION.
In the five generations before the sixth, the crossed plant of each pair
was taller than its self-fertilised opponent; but in the sixth
generation (Table 2/7, Pot 2) the Hero appeared, which after a long and
dubious struggle conquered its crossed opponent, though by only half an
inch. I was so much surprised at this fact, that I resolved to ascertain
whether this plant would transmit its powers of growth to its seedlings.
Several flowers on Hero were therefore fertilised with their own pollen,
and the seedlings thus raised were put into competition with
self-fertilised and intercrossed plants of the corresponding generation.
The three lots of seedlings thus all belong to the seventh generation.
Their relative heights are shown in Tables 2/14 and 2/15.
TABLE 2/14. Ipomoea purpurea.
Heights of Plants in inches:
Column 1: Number (Name) of Pot.
Column 2: Self-fertilised Plants of the Seventh Generation, Children of
Hero.
Column 3: Self-fertilised Plants of the Seventh Generation.
Pot 1 : 74 : 89 4/8.
Pot 1 : 60 : 61.
Pot 1 : 55 2/8 : 49.
Pot 2 : 92 : 82.
Pot 2 : 91 6/8 : 56.
Pot 2 : 74 2/8 : 38.
Total : 447.25 : 375.50.
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