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  • Published:

Fertilisation of the Common Speedwell

Abstract

IF Mr. Ransom will refer again to my letter, he will see that it was written in order to draw attention to the adaptation of the flower for cross-fertilisation, and not especially to the fact that Diptera in settling upon it, draw down the stamens. This latter, if we consider the close attention paid of late years to the commoner European wild flowers, has in all probability been frequently observed before. As I have not seen Schenck's handbook, I would be glad if Mr. Ransom will quote the passage to which he refers. On looking at my note-book I find that not only V. officinalis, but also V. Chamædrys and V. Beccabunga are shown as fertilised in the same manner. May I suggest that the separation of the stamens, and the difference of inclination between stamens and pistil, have been brought about in order to prevent self-fertilisation? The looseness of the corolla would then, in such a flower as V. Chamædrys, bring the anthers to a level with the stigma when an insect alighted upon it, and would thus promote cross-fertilisation. From want of more extended observations, however, I could not say what would happen in the case of a proterogynous species, or of such a flower as V. spicata. In reply to Mr. Ransom, I may add that I have no. where stated V. officinalis to possess larger flowers than V. hederæfolia, and that Mr. Darwin (“Cross and Self-fertilisation,” p. 369), in a brief reference to the genus, simply states that V. agrestis is self-fertilising, and mentions species of Syrphidæ as visiting the flowers of V. hederæfolia and V. officinalis.

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STAPLEY, A. Fertilisation of the Common Speedwell. Nature 27, 174 (1882). https://doi.org/10.1038/027174b0

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