Origin of Species Variorum

Comparison with 1869

of the involucra on the florets, or to their mutual pressure, and the shape of the seeds in the ray-florets of some Compositæ countenances this idea; but with the Umbelliferæ, it is by no means, as Dr. Hooker informs me, the species with the densest heads which most frequently differ in their inner and outer flowers. It might have been thought that the development of the ray-petals by drawing nourishment from the reproductive organs had caused their abortion; but this can hardly be the sole cause, for in some Compositæ ... the seeds of the outer and inner florets differ without any difference in the corolla. Possibly, these several differences may be connected with the different .. flow of nutriment towards the central and external flowers: we know, at least, that with normally irregular flowers, those nearest to the axis are most subject to peloria, that is they become symmetrical. I may add, as an instance of this, and of a striking case of correlation, that I have recently observed in many pelargoniums, that in the central flower of the truss, the two upper petals often lose their patches of darker colour; and when this occurs, the adherent nectary is quite aborted. When the colour is absent from only one of the two upper petals, the nectary is not quite aborted but is much shortened.

of the seeds in the ray-florets in some Compositæ countenances this idea; but, in the case of the corolla of the Umbelliferæ, it is by no means, as Dr. Hooker informs me, in species with the densest heads that the inner and outer flowers most frequently differ. It might have been thought that the development of the ray-petals by drawing nourishment from certain other parts of the flower had caused their abortion; but in some Compositæ there is a difference in the seeds of the outer and inner florets without any difference in the corolla. Possibly these several differences may be connected with some difference in the flow of nutriment towards the central and external flowers: we know, at least, that in irregular flowers, those nearest to the axis are said to be oftenest subject to peloria, and become regular. I may add, as an instance of this, and of a striking case of correlation, that I have recently observed in some garden pelargoniums, that the central flower of the truss often loses the patches of darker colour in the two upper petals; and that when this occurs, the adherent nectary is quite aborted; when the colour is absent from only one of the two upper petals, the nectary is only much shortened.