) He adds the
interesting statement, that when the corolla is cut quite away, insects,
as far as he has seen, never discover or visit the flowers. This plant
is, however, self-fertile if insects are excluded. So few experiments
were made by me, that they are hardly worth giving. Crossed and
self-fertilised seeds were sown on opposite sides of a pot, and after a
time the crossed seedlings slightly exceeded the self-fertilised in
height. When a little further grown, the longest leaves on the former
were very nearly 3 inches in length, whilst those on the self-fertilised
plants were only 2 inches. Owing to an accident, and to the pot being
too small, only one plant on each side grew up and flowered; the crossed
plant was 19 1/2 inches in height, and the self-fertilised one 15
inches; or as 100 to 77.
Linaria vulgaris.
It has been mentioned in the introductory chapter that two large beds of
this plant were raised by me many years ago from crossed and
self-fertilised seeds, and that there was a conspicuous difference in
height and general appearance between the two lots. The trial was
afterwards repeated with more care; but as this was one of the first
plants experimented on, my usual method was not followed. Seeds were
taken from wild plants growing in this neighbourhood and sown in poor
soil in my garden. Five plants were covered with a net, the others being
left exposed to the bees, which incessantly visit the flowers of this
species, and which, according to H.
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