132 



DIANTHUS CARYOPHYLLUS. 



CHAP. IV 



TABLE XLV. 

 Viscaria oculata. 



DIANTHUS CABYOPHYLLUS. 



The common carnation is strongly proterandrous, and there- 

 fore depends to a large extent upon insects for fertilisation. I 

 have seen only humble-bees visiting the flowers, but I dare say 

 other insects likewise do so. It is notorious that if pure seed is 

 desired, the greatest care is necessary * to prevent the varieties 

 which grow in the same garden from intercrossing. The pollen, 

 is generally shed and lost before the two stigmas in the same 

 flower diverge and are ready to be fertilised. I was therefore 

 often forced to use for self-fertilisation pollen from the same 

 plant instead of from the same flower. But on two occasions, 

 when I attended to this point, I was not able to detect any 

 marked difference in the number of seeds produced by these two 

 forms of self-fertilisation. 



* 'Gardeners' Chronicle,' .'847, p. 268 



