POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
THE SELF-FERTILISATION OF PLANTS.* 
By the Rey. GEORGE HENSLOW, M.A., F.L.S., F.G.S. 
[Plate I.] 
When the discovery that plants had sexes became a well-recog- 
nised fact, the relative position of the stamens and pistil in a 
flower was noticed as peculiarly favouring, as was supposed, their 
union ; and in accordance with the teleological views of the last 
century, the oft-quoted generalisation was made (attributed, I 
believe, originally to Linnseus), that whether a flower be pendu- 
lous or erect, the stigma was always below the anthers, so that 
the pollen might fall upon it, self-fertilisation being thus sup- 
posed to be the object in nature. 
It is worth while pointing out some objections to this idea. 
In the first place, if nature intended the pollen to reach the 
stigma, why, it may be asked, is it allowed to fall , as it would 
be applied to it with much more certainty if the anthers were 
placed in close contact with that organ, as is actually the case 
in all really self-fertilising plants, so that there would be no 
chance of the pollen being blown away by the wind before it 
could fall down upon the stigma. Secondly, how comes it that 
flowers are monoecious and dioecious, that is, with their sexes 
separate, either in different flowers on the same or on distinct 
plants, respectively ? Thirdly, many flowers, though possessing 
both stamens and pistil, are dichogamous, that is, the anthers 
mature and shed their pollen before the stigma is ready to re- 
ceive it ; or else the stigma matures before the anthers. Lastly, 
a large proportion of conspicuous flowers are irregular or else 
* The subject of a paper by the present writer in the “ Transactions of 
the Linn se an Society,” to be published in the ensuing volume. 
NEW SEKIES, VOL. III. — NO. IX. B 
