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Apropos of the interesting discussion on this subject which has appeared in your columns, I should much like to know whether any of your readers have observed the mode of fertilisation in Corydalis claviculata. Last summer I spent a considerable time in attempting to find this out, but without success. In every flower which I gathered in the mature state, I found the style broken off at the articulation immediately above the ovary, as if to prevent the possibility of fertilisation after a certain period. As the interior parts are completely concealed by the corolla, it was difficult to determine whether the separation had actually taken place on the flower, or was the result of the dissection, but I believe the former to be the case. In a large number of observations, extending over a considerable time, I never saw an insect visit the plant (this was in Westmoreland), though seeds were freely produced. Müller does not mention this species in his classical work on the subject, â Die Befruchtung der Blumen durch Insekten.â |
