212 ILLEGITIMATE OFFSPRING OF Chap. V. 



OXALIS. 



No one has compared the legitimate and illegiti- 

 mate offspring of any trimorphic species in this genus. 

 Hildebrand sowed illegitimately fertilised seeds of 

 Oxalis Valdiviana* but they did not germinate; and 

 this fact, as he remarks, supports my view that an 

 illegitimate union resembles a hybrid one between 

 two distinct species, for the seeds in this latter case 

 are often incapable of germination. 



The following observations relate to the nature of the 

 forms which appear among the legitimate seedlings of 

 Oxalis Valdiviana. Hildebrand raised, as described in the 

 paper just referred to, 211 seedlings from all six legiti- 

 mate unions, and the three forms appeared among the off- 

 spring from each union. For instance, long-styled plants 

 were legitimately fertilised with pollen from the longest 

 stamens of the mid-styled form, and the seedlings con- 

 sisted of 15 long-styled, 18 mid-styled, and 6 short-styled. 

 We here see that a few short-styled plants were produced, 

 though neither parent was short-styled ; and so it was with 

 the other legitimate unions. Out of the above 211 seed- 

 lings, 173 belonged to the same two forms as their parents, 

 and only 38 belonged to the third form distinct from either 

 parent. In the case of 0. Regnelli, the result, as observed 

 by Hildebrand, was nearly the same, but more striking; 

 all the offspring from four of the legitimate unions con- 

 sisted of the two parent-forms, whilst amongst the seed- 

 lings from the other two legitimate unions the third form 

 appeared. Thus, of the 35 seedlings from the six legiti- 

 mate unions, 35 belonged to the same two forms as their 

 parents, and only 8 to the third form. Fritz Miiller also 

 raised in Brazil seedlings from long-styled plants of 0. 

 Regnelli legitimately fertilised with pollen from the long- 

 est stamens of the mid-styled form, and all these belonged 

 to the two parent-forms.f Lastly, seedlings were raised 

 by me from long-styled plants of 0. speciosa legitimately 



*'Bot. Zeitung,' 1871, p. 433, t ' Jenaische Zeitschrift,' &c, 

 footnote. Band vi., 1871, p. 75. 



