Abstract
SELF-FERTILISATION OF PLANTS.—This subject, around which the genius of Mr. Charles Darwin has thrown a halo, seems likely to give rise to further controversy. The Rev. G. Henslow, in a communication laid before the first meeting this session of the Linnean Society, gave an exposition of the views he had arrived at; these in many respects being at variance with those promulgated by Mr. Darwin. The author acknowledged how indebted he stood towards, the latter, whose vast storehouse of facts and close reasoning necessitated constant reference to his writings; but the author's own deductions therefrom, and additional researches, nevertheless, confirmed him in hesitating to accept some of Mr. Darwin's conclusions. According to Mr. Henslow, the chief facts and bearings of the self-fertilisation of plants may thus be summarised: I. The majority of flowering plants are self-fertile. 2. Very few are known to be physiologically self-sterile. 3. Many are morphologically self-sterile. 4. Self-sterile plants become self-fertile by (a) withering of the corolla, (b) its excision, (c) loss of colour, (d) closing, (e) not opening, (f) absence of insects, (g) reduction of temperature, (h) transportation. 5. Highly self-fertile forms may arise under cultivation. 6. Special adaptations occur for self-fertilisation. 7. Inconspicuous flowers are highly self-fertile. 8. Cleistogamous flowers are always self-fertilised. 9. Conservation of energy in reduction of pollen. 10. Relative fertility may equal or surpass that of crossed plants. 11. It does not decrease in successive generations. 12. It may increase. 13. Free from competition self-fertilised plants equal the intercrossed; (a) as seedlings, (b) planted in open ground. 14. They may gain no benefit from a cross from the same or a different stock. 15. They are as healthy as the intercrossed. 16. They may be much more productive than flowers dependent upon insects. 17. Naturalised abroad they gain great vigour; and (18) are the fittest to survive in the struggle for life.
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Biological Notes . Nature 17, 221–222 (1878). https://doi.org/10.1038/017221f0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/017221f0