15" SETEEAI/ SPECIES OF THE OEXL'S 'LmVil. 81 



course witli all the flowers of any species wliatever. As it is dif- 

 ficult to prove without troublesome experiments the falsity of the 

 belief of regular fertilization in the bud, I here notice this subject. 

 An estimable and laborious observer*, resting his belief on the 

 usual kind of evidence, states that in L. Austriacnm (which is 

 dimorphic and is considered by Planchon as a variety of L. 

 perenne) the anthers open the evening before the expansion of the 

 flowers, and tJiat the long-stjled stigmas are then almost ahvaj's 

 fertilized. He asks whether this precocious fertilization in tlio 

 several species of Linum and in other plants is not one cause of 

 the sliort duration of their flowers. ^o\x we know positively that, 

 so far from Linum perenne being fertilized by its own pollen in 

 the bud, its own pollen is as powerless on the stigma as so much 

 inorganic dust. 



Linum flavum. — To recur to our more immediate subject, in 

 the long-styled form of this species the pistil is nearly twice as 

 long as in the short-styled form ; and the stigmas are longer with 

 the papillas coarser. In the short-styled form the stigmas diverge 

 and pass out between the filaments. The stamens in the two forms 

 differ in height, and, what is singular, the anthers of the longer 

 stamens are sliorter ; so that in the short-styled form botli stigmas 

 and anthers are shorter than in the other form. The pollen of 

 the two forms does not difler. I have not been able to try any 

 experiments on this species ; but a careful observer, Mr. W. C. 

 Crocker, intends proving tiieir reciprocal fertility next summer. 

 As this plant is propagated hj cuttings, I have generally found 

 that all the plants in the same garden belong to the same form. 

 On inquiry I have never heard of its seeding in this country ; but 

 to anyone wishing to raise seedlings, in all probability the path is 

 now open, namely, by carrying pollen from one form to the other. 

 I have now shown that three species of Linum are dimoi-phic, 

 besides several races of L. perenne, esteemed by some botanists to 

 be distinct species, such as L. montanum, L. Sihiricum, and L. Aus- 

 triaeicm. According to Vaucherf, L. GalUcmn, L. maritimwm, and 

 Z. strictinn are in the same manner dimorphic, as likewise is, ac- 

 cording to PlauchonJ, L saholoides. This latter botanist is the 

 only one who seems to have been struck with the importance of 

 the subject ; and he acutely asks whether this dimorphism has not 

 some influence on the manner of fertilization. We thus know of 



* feudes 8ur la Geograph. Bot., par Prof. H. Lecoq, 1850, torn. T. p. 325. 

 t Iliet. Physiolog. dcs Plantes d'Europe, 1841, torn. i. p, 401. 

 X Hooker's London Joum. of Botany, 1848, vol. vii. p. 171. 



