No one until
lately would have imagined that in dimorphic and trimorphic plants the
different lengths of the stamens and pistils, and their arrangement, could
have been of any service, but now we know this to be the case.
In certain whole groups of plants the ovules stand erect, and in others
they are suspended; and within the same ovarium of some few plants, one
ovule holds the former and a second ovule the latter position. These
positions seem at first purely morphological, or of no physiological
signification; but Dr. Hooker informs me that within the same ovarium the
upper ovules alone in some cases, and in others the lower ones alone are
fertilised; and he suggests that this probably depends on the direction in
which the pollen-tubes enter the ovarium. If so, the position of the
ovules, even when one is erect and the other suspended within the same
ovarium, would follow the selection of any slight deviations in position
which favoured their fertilisation, and the production of seed.
Several plants belonging to distinct orders habitually produce flowers of
two kinds--the one open, of the ordinary structure, the other closed and
imperfect. These two kinds of flowers sometimes differ wonderfully in
structure, yet may be seen to graduate into each other on the same plant.
The ordinary and open flowers can be intercrossed; and the benefits which
certainly are derived from this process are thus secured.
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