RECORD: Darwin, C. R. 1878.06.01-04. Lotus jacobaeus / Draft of Cross and self fertilisation. CUL-DAR209.4.208. (John van Wyhe ed., 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online, http://darwin-online.org.uk/)

REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed by Christine Chua and John van Wyhe, edited by John van Wyhe 9.2022. RN2

NOTE: See record in the Darwin Online manuscript catalogue, enter its Identifier here. Reproduced with permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library and William Huxley Darwin. The volume CUL-DAR209.4 contains materials for Darwin's book Movement in plants (1880).

Draft of Cross and self fertilisation in the hand of Ebenezer Norman with corrections by Darwin.


[208]

Lotus Jacobaeus

June 1' 1. 30'
3. 15'

6°. 30 P.m. Jun 1st
6°. 45' a.m June 2d.
11. 30'
2° P.m
2° 45
3. 30'
4.
5.

7°. P.m
3d  6° 45' a.m June 3d
10
11°
12


6
9.° P.m
6. 50° a.m June 4th 4th  
10°. 15' am
11°
11. 30'
12

[very faint on backing sheet:]

Oct. 11th 1878

Lotus Jacobaeus

(Used)

a seedling only about 24° old had short & thin filament fixed to one Cot. but I forgot to secure Hypocotyl.— traced on vertical glass.—

first First dot at 8° 30, fell  till 11° 30' & end of filament then touched Sand.— At 7° 24' had risen & so continued so that by 10° 50' P.m had risen greatly . Rose a little more during night   by 6° 50' a.m. on 12th.— then fell a little— I now secured Hypocotyl to fine pin. After which never moved much; yet circumtated minutely about nearly same point until morning of 13th.— I know not whether the first considerable & even great movement observed was due to circumnutation of Hypocotyl— or to Cotyledons becoming motionless, almost motionless, for want of light, as seedlings only feebly illuminated from above. — I suspect latter cause.—

Oct 14th to morning of 15: a seedlings abut 24° old had hypocotyl fixed to thin pin with short very thin glass filament affixed to one Cot. [sketch] movement traced on vertical glass illuminated from above.— distance about 7 inches from tip of Cot to vertical Glass— — The tracing rose, owing to growth of uppermost part of hypocotyl.; so, later movement may have been partly due to circumnutation of hypocotyl—, but as the Cot. circumnutated from the first within very small range, no doubt. Cot. circumnutated: whole tracing during 27° was only .85 in length & so cd not be copied. (compare with tracing & magnification of former Tracing) & there was no sign whatever of an evening & nocturnal rise or of a morning sinking; so agrees with tracing of Oct. 11th. after hypocotyl was secured & agrees with general conclusion that Cots. do not sleep at first.

[208v]

3  614

Chap. E 10

are either quite sterile or produce less than about half the full compliment of seeds, when insects are excluded; the & a second list including of plants which when thus treated are fully sterile fertile or produce at lease half the full compliment of seeds. (a) It should be understood observe that the sterility and fertility of the plants in these two lists depends on two wholly distinct causes, ─ the absence of the proper means by which pollen is applied carried to the stigma, and its greater or less efficiency when thus applied. As it is obvious that with plants, in which having the sexes are separated, pollen must be carried by some means from flower to flower, these are excluded from the lists; as are likewise dimorphic and trimorphic plants in which the same necessity occurs to a certain extent. Experience has proved to me that the fertility of a plant is not lessened by covering it while in flower under a thin net supported on a frame, and this might indeed have been inferred from the consideration of the two following lists, as

[Cross and self fertilisation, pp. 356-7: "I will in the first place give two lists: the first, of plants which are either quite sterile or produce less than about half the full complement of seeds, when insects are excluded; and a second list of plants which, when thus treated, are fully fertile or produce at least half the full complement of seeds. These lists have been compiled from the several previous tables, with some additional cases from my own observations and those of others. The species are arranged nearly in the order followed by Lindley in his 'Vegetable Kingdom.' The reader should observe that the sterility or fertility of the plants in these two lists depends on two wholly distinct causes; namely, the absence or presence of the proper means by which pollen is applied to the stigma, and its less or greater efficiency when thus applied. As it is obvious that with plants in which the sexes are separate, pollen must be carried by some means from flower to flower, such species are excluded from the lists; as are likewise dimorphic and trimorphic plants, in which the same necessity occurs to a limited extent. Experience has proved to me that, independently of the exclusion of insects, the seed-bearing power of a plant is not lessened by covering it while in flower under a thin net supported on a frame; and this might indeed have been inferred from the consideration of the two following lists, as they include a considerable number of species belonging to the same genera, some of which are quite sterile and others quite fertile when protected by a net from the access of insects."]


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Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)

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