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
It should be especially observed that the average difference between the
crossed and self-fertilised plants is not due to a few of the former
having grown to an extraordinary height, or to a few of the
self-fertilised being extremely short, but to all the crossed plants
having surpassed their self-fertilised opponents, with the few following
exceptions. The first occurred in the sixth generation, in which the
plant named “Hero” appeared; two in the eighth generation, but the
self-fertilised plants in this generation were in an anomalous
condition, as they grew at first at an unusual rate and conquered for a
time the opposed crossed plants; and two exceptions in the ninth
generation, though one of these plants only equalled its crossed
opponent. Therefore, of the seventy-three crossed plants, sixty-eight
grew to a greater height than the self-fertilised plants, to which they
were opposed.
In the right-hand column of figures, the difference in height between
the crossed and self-fertilised plants in the successive generations is
seen to fluctuate much, as might indeed have been expected from the
small number of plants measured in each generation being insufficient to
give a fair average. It should be remembered that the absolute height of
the plants goes for nothing, as each pair was measured as soon as one of
them had twined up to the summit of its rod. The great difference in the
tenth generation, namely, 100 to 54, no doubt was partly accidental,
though, when these plants were weighed, the difference was even greater,
namely, 100 to 44. The smallest amount of difference occurred in the
fourth and the eighth generations, and this was apparently due to both
the crossed and self-fertilised plants having become unhealthy, which
prevented the former attaining their usual degree of superiority. This
was an unfortunate circumstance, but my experiments were not thus
vitiated, as both lots of plants were exposed to the same conditions,
whether favourable or unfavourable.
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