Charles Darwin

The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species Charles Darwin

Book ExcerptS--continued. Linum grandiflorum, long-styled form utterly sterile with own-form pollen.-- Linum perenne, torsion of the pistils in the long-styled form alone.--Homostyled species of Linum.--Pulmonaria officinalis, singular difference in self-fertility between the English and German long-styled plants.--Pulmonaria angustifolia shown to be a distinct species, long-styled form completely self-sterile.-- Polygonum fagopyrum.--Various other heterostyled genera.--Rubiaceae.--Mitchella repens, fertility of the flowers in pairs.--Houstonia.--Faramea, remarkable difference in the pollen-grains of the two forms; torsion of the stamens in the short-styled form alone; development not as yet perfect.--The heterostyled structure in the several Rubiaceous genera not due to descent in common. CHAPTER IV. HETEROSTYLED TRIMORPHIC PLANTS. Lythrum salicaria.--Description of the three forms.--Their power and complex manner of fertilising one another.--Eighteen different un