[7]

Common Oxlips

The 3 plants from long-styled by own pollen are in flower & all long-styled — one is identical with parent hybrid flower & is borne on a scape {— May 4th I gathered flower stalk from parent & compared stem & they were identical

The second has as yet no scape, & flowers are smaller & darker darker-coloured — (is now dying. May 4th)

(The third has rather smaller flowers, of exact nearly rather paler tint of like primrose & as yet no scape

(May 1 it has now thrown up good tall scapes.) (& is closely like parent oxlip, except that a little paler.)

The evidence as yet strongly indicates that these are really progeny of long-styled by own pollen & it is very improbable there was any mistake.— — I well remember that the oxlips naturally crossed by primrose pollen were almost identical at first with common primrose.— On the whole certainly do not resemble hybrids from oxlips by Primroses.— (See to Fertility, when spont. crossed by adjoining Primroses & Cowslips.) /over

[7v]

April 15. 1867. Examined pollen of long-styled oxlip (which was originally found in wood) many grains bad. In short-styled every single grain bad & very minute though very numerous, & whole pollen of whitish colour, but the flower was old.—

(In the short-styled Bardfield oxlip every grain bad— quite good.)

In the 3 seedlings from long-styled by own pollen: in no. I with a scape, the pollen nearly quite good in appearance in the second plant with paler flower, rather more more like primrose, pollen with a very few bad grains.— This looks as if the parent oxlip has been crossed with primrose.— (No, I now do not think so only has reacquired more fertility.)

(April 16 Examined pollen of all 3 short-styled plants; in two pollen in cross appeared white & consisted of a multitude of excessively minute cells, with not one good grain: in the third plant about a 1/5 or 1/6 of grain app were of full sized, but remarkably opake & brown & did become transparent after water.)

(Examined another anther of long-styled, about half the grains were small & imperfect & I am not sure that the others were good, as compared with primrose, long-styled pollen

[in margin:] Say when I used short-styled pollen: I did not know how worthless it was.─