[6]

1863 As bearing on the production under nature of Hybrids, the following can may be worth giving.

The Hybrid Verbascum which was planted in k. garden which last year was quite sterile was this year absolutely sterile again so for I examined many capsules & cd not find a single seed —

I fertilised 4 flowers with pollen of parent V. lychnitis & these produced 5, 1, 2, 2, seeds. I also fertilised 4 3 flowers with pollen of other parent V. thapsi & these produced 2, 2, 3, seed.

To shew how very sterile this Hybrid is I may state that estimated by counting 100 seed that a Capsule of V. thapsi growing close by in K. garden contain above 700 seed. This makes the frequency of these hybrids the more curious & proves the truth of Gartner.