nn 



ESCHSCHOLTZIA CALIFOENICA. 



CHAP. IV. 



BO that the whole advantage of a cross is confined to the re- 

 productive system. It will be necessary for me to give this 

 singular case in considerable detail. 



Twelve flowers on some plants in my flower-garden were 

 fertilised with pollen from distinct plants, and produced twelve 

 capsules ; but one of these contained no good seed. The seeds 

 of the eleven good capsules weighed 17 '4 grainy. Eighteen 

 flowers on the same plants were fertilised with their own pollen 

 and produced twelve good capsules, which contained 13 '61 

 grains weight of seed. Therefore an equal number of crossed 

 and self-fertilised capsules would have yielded seed by weight 

 as 100 to 71.* If we take into account the fact that a much 

 greater proportion of flowers produced capsules when crossed 

 than when self-fertilised, the relative fertility of the crossed to 

 the self-fertilised flowers was as 100 to 52. Nevertheless these 

 plants, whilst still protected by the net, spontaneously produced 

 a considerable number of self-fertilised capsules. 



The seeds of the two lots after germinating on sand were 

 planted in pairs on the opposite sides of four large pots. At 

 first there was no difference in their growth, but ultimately 

 the crossed seedlings exceeded the self-fertilised considerably in 

 height, as shown in the following table. But I believe from 



TABLE XXXIV. 



Eschscholtzia ccdifornica. 



* Prof. Hildebrand experi- 

 mented on plants in Germany on 

 a larger scale than I did, and 

 found them much more self-sterile. 

 Eighteen capsules, produced by 

 cross-fertilisation, contained on an 



average eighty-five seeds, whilst 

 fourteen capsules from self-ferti- 

 lised flowers contained on an 

 average only nine seeds ; that is. 

 as 100 to 11 : Jahrb. fur Wisseni 

 Botanik.' B. vii. p. 467. 



