£hap. XI. MALE ELEMENT ON THE MOTHER FORM. 



399 



(Matthiola annua; Cocardeau of the French) are light brown and 

 those of the purple branching Queen stock (M. incana) are violet-black • 

 and he found that, when flowers of the red stock were fertilised by pollen 

 from the purple stock, they yielded about fifty per cent, of black seeds. He 

 sent me four pods from a red-flowered plant, two of which had" been 

 fertilised by their own pollen, and they included pale brown seed; and two 

 which had been crossed by pollen from the purple kind, and they included 

 seeds all deeply tinged with black. These latter seeds yielded purple- 

 flowered plants like their father; whilst the pale brown seeds yielded 

 normal red-flowered plants ; and Major Clarke, by sowing similar seeds 

 has observed on a greater scale the same result. The evidence in this 

 case of the direct action of the pollen of one species on the colour of the 

 seeds of another species appears to me conclusive. 



In the foregoing cases, with the exception of that of the purple- 

 podded pea, the coats of the seeds alone have been affected in 

 colour. We shall now see that the ovarium itself whether form- 

 ing a large fleshy fruit or a mere thin envelope, may be modified 

 by foreign pollen, in colour, flavour, texture, size, and shape. 



The most remarkable instance, because carefully recorded by highly com- 

 petent authorities, is one of which I have seen an account in a letter 

 written, in 1867, by M. Naudin to Dr. Hooker. M. Naudin states that 

 he has seen fruit growing on Chamcerops humilis, which had been fertilised 

 by M. Denis with pollen from the Phoenix or date-palm. The fruit or 

 drupe thus produced was twice as large as, and more elongated than, 

 that proper to the Chamserops ; so that it was intermediate in these respects, 

 as well as in texture, between the fruit of the two parents. These 

 hybridised seeds germinated, and produced young plants likewise in- 

 termediate in character. This case is the more remarkable as the 

 Chamserops and Phoenix belong not only to distinct genera, but in the 

 estimation of some botanists to distinct sections of the family. 



Gallesio m fertilised the flowers of an orange with pollen from the lemon ; 

 and one fruit thus produced bore a longitudinal stripe of peel having the 

 colour, flavour, and other characters of the lemon. Mr. Anderson 122 fertilised 

 a green-fleshed melon with pollen from a scarlet-fleshed kind ; in two of 

 the fruits " a sensible change was perceptible ; and four other fruits were 

 somewhat altered both internally and externally." The seeds of the two 

 first-mentioned fruits produced plants partaking of the good properties 

 of both parents. In the United States, where Cucurbitacese are largely 

 cultivated, it is the popular belief 123 that the fruit is thus directly affected 

 by foreign pollen ; and I have received a similar statement with respect to 

 the cucumber in England. It is known that grapes have been thus affected 

 ^ colour, size, and shape : in France a pale-coloured grape had its juice 

 tinted by the pollen of the dark-coloured Teinturier ; in Germany a 



318. 



121 ' Traite du Citrus,' p. 40. 

 22 ' Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol iv. p. 

 See also vol. v. p. 65. 



123 Prof. Asa Gray, ' Proc. Acad. So./ 

 Boston, vol. iv., 1860, p. 21. 



