TABLE 4/38. Reseda odorata, growing in the open ground.
Heights of plants measured in inches.
Column 1: Crossed Plants.
Column 2: Self-fertilised Plants.
24 4/8 : 26 5/8.
27 2/8 : 25 7/8.
24 : 25.
26 6/8 : 28 3/8.
25 : 29 7/8.
26 2/8 : 25 7/8.
27 2/8 : 26 7/8.
25 1/8 : 28 2/8.
Total : 206.13 : 216.75
The average height of the eight crossed plants is 25.76, and that of the eight self-fertilised 27.09; or as 100 to 105.
We here have the anomalous result of the self-fertilised plants being a little taller than the crossed; of which fact I can offer no explanation. It is of course possible, but not probable, that the labels may have been interchanged by accident.
Another experiment was now tried: all the self-fertilised capsules, though very few in number, were gathered from one of the semi-self-sterile plants under a net; and as several flowers on this same plant had been fertilised with pollen from a distinct individual, crossed seeds were thus obtained. I expected that the seedlings from this semi-self-sterile plant would have profited in a higher degree from a cross, than did the seedlings from the fully self-fertile plants. But my anticipation was quite wrong, for they profited in a less degree. An analogous result followed in the case of Eschscholtzia, in which the offspring of the plants of Brazilian parentage (which were partially self-sterile) did not profit more from a cross, than did the plants of the far more self-fertile English stock. The above two lots of crossed and self-fertilised seeds from the same plant of Reseda odorata, after germinating on sand, were planted on opposite sides of five pots, and measured as in the last case, with the result in Table 4/39.
TABLE 4/39. Reseda odorata (seedlings from a semi-self-sterile plant).