Primula veris.
EQUAL-STYLED AND RED-FLOWERED VAR.
I have described in my paper ‘On the Illegitimate Unions of Dimorphic and Trimorphic Plants’ this remarkable variety, which was sent to me from Edinburgh by Mr. J. Scott. It possessed a pistil proper to the long-styled form, and stamens proper to the short-styled form; so that it had lost the heterostyled or dimorphic character common to most of the species of the genus, and may be compared with an hermaphrodite form of a bisexual animal. Consequently the pollen and stigma of the same flower are adapted for complete mutual fertilisation, instead of its being necessary that pollen should be brought from one form to another, as in the common cowslip. From the stigma and anthers standing nearly on the same level, the flowers are perfectly self-fertile when insects are excluded. Owing to the fortunate existence of this variety, it is possible to fertilise its flowers in a legitimate manner with their own pollen, and to cross other flowers in a legitimate manner with pollen from another variety or fresh stock. Thus the offspring from both unions can be compared quite fairly, free from any doubt from the injurious effects of an illegitimate union.
The plants on which I experimented had been raised during two successive generations from spontaneously self-fertilised seeds produced by plants under a net; and as the variety is highly self-fertile, its progenitors in Edinburgh may have been self-fertilised during some previous generations. Several flowers on two of my plants were legitimately crossed with pollen from a short-styled common cowslip growing almost wild in my orchard; so that the cross was between plants which had been subjected to considerably different conditions. Several other flowers on the same two plants were allowed to fertilise themselves under a net; and this union, as already explained, is a legitimate one.
The crossed and self-fertilised seeds thus obtained were sown thickly on the opposite sides of three pots, and the seedlings thinned, so that an equal number were left on the two sides. The seedlings during the first year were nearly equal in height, excepting in Pot 3, Table 6/94, in which the self-fertilised plants had a decided advantage. In the autumn the plants were bedded out, in their pots; owing to this circumstance, and to many plants growing in each pot, they did not flourish, and none were very productive in seeds. But the conditions were perfectly equal and fair for both sides. In the following spring I record in my notes that in two of the pots the crossed plants are “incomparably the finest in general appearance,” and in all three pots they flowered before the self-fertilised. When in full flower the tallest flower-stem on each side of each pot was measured, and the number of the flower-stems on both sides counted, as shown in Table 6/94. The plants were left uncovered, and as other plants were growing close by, the flowers no doubt were crossed by insects. When the capsules were ripe they were gathered and counted, and the result is likewise shown in Table 6/94.
TABLE 6/94. Primula veris (equal-styled, red-flowered variety).
Heights of plants measured in inches.
Column 1: Number (Name) of Pot.
Column 2: Height of tallest flower-stem: crossed Plants.
Column 3: Number of Flower-stems: crossed Plants.