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
As it is now evident that the tall white variety transmitted its
characters faithfully, and as the self-fertilised plants consisted
exclusively of this variety, it was manifest that they would always
exceed in height the crossed plants which belonged chiefly to the
original shorter varieties. This line of experiment was therefore
discontinued, and I tried whether intercrossing two self-fertilised
plants of the sixth generation, growing in distinct pots, would give
their offspring any advantage over the offspring of flowers on one of
the same plants fertilised with their own pollen. These latter seedlings
formed the seventh generation of self-fertilised plants, like those in
the right hand column in Table 3/18; the crossed plants were the product
of six previous self-fertilised generations with an intercross in the
last generation. The seeds were allowed to germinate on sand, and were
planted in pairs on opposite sides of four pots, all the remaining seeds
being sown crowded on opposite sides of Pot 5 in Table 3/19; the three
tallest on each side in this latter pot being alone measured. All the
plants were twice measured--the first time whilst young, and the average
height of the crossed plants to that of the self-fertilised was then as
100 to 122. When fully grown they were again measured, as in Table 3/19.
TABLE 3/19. Mimulus luteus.
Heights of Plants in inches:
Column 1: Number (Name) of Pot.
Column 2: Intercrossed Plants from Self-fertilised Plants of the Sixth
Generation.
Column 3: Self-fertilised Plants of the Seventh Generation.
Pot 1 : 12 6/8 : 15 2/8.
Pot 1 : 10 4/8 : 11 5/8.
Pot 1 : 10 : 11.
Pot 1 : 14 5/8 : 11.
Pot 2 : 10 2/8 : 11 3/8.
Pot 2 : 7 6/8 : 11 4/8.
Pot 2 : 12 1/8 : 8 5/8.
Pot 2 : 7 : 14 3/8.
Pot 3 : 13 5/8 : 10 3/8.
Pot 3 : 12 2/8 : 11 6/8.
Pot 4 : 7 1/8 : 14 6/8.
Pot 4 : 8 2/8 : 7.
Pot 4 : 7 2/8 : 8.
Pot 5 : 8 5/8 : 10 2/8
Pot 5 : 9 : 9 3/8.
Pot 5 : 8 2/8 : 9 2/8.
Crowded.
Total : 159.38 : 175.50.
The average height of the sixteen intercrossed plants is here 9.96
inches, and that of the sixteen self-fertilised plants 10.96, or as 100
to 110; so that the intercrossed plants, the progenitors of which had
been self-fertilised for the six previous generations, and had been
exposed during the whole time to remarkably uniform conditions, were
somewhat inferior in height to the plants of the seventh self-fertilised
generation. But as we shall presently see that a similar experiment made
after two additional generations of self-fertilisation gave a different
result, I know not how far to trust the present one. In three of the
five pots in Table 3/19 a self-fertilised plant flowered first, and in
the other two a crossed plant. These self-fertilised plants were
remarkably fertile, for twenty flowers fertilised with their own pollen
produced no less than nineteen very fine capsules!
THE EFFECTS OF A CROSS WITH A DISTINCT STOCK.
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