Few facts in vegetable physiology are more remarkable than the well-ascertained influence of the pollen of one species or variety on the seed and fruit of another species or variety whilst still attached to the female plant. There are several old accounts, and the case has been well proved by Gärtner of the colour of the pea in one variety of the Garden Pea, being changed by the direct action of the pollen of another differently-coloured variety.2 So, again, the famous St. Valery Apple tree produces many different kinds of fruit, according to the nature of the pollen used; for the singularly-constructed flowers yield no pollen, and they are annually fertilised by a party of French girls, who bring pollen from other trees, and mark with ribbons the flowers thus fertilised.3 About a year ago Mr. Beaton gave an analogous case, far more remarkable than any hitherto recorded, for he showed (if my memory does not deceive me) that the pollen of one species acted on the footstalk of the seed-capsule of another species, and caused it slowly to assume a position which it would not otherwise have acquired.4 I forget the name of the plant, and have vainly spent an hour in trying to find the passage, though I am sure I marked it. Will Mr. Beaton have the kindness to repeat the statement? and I am sure it is worth repetition.5 If he grant this favour, will he inform us whether his observations were made on several flowers, and during one or more years? I remember some difficulty in finding the name of the plant in such catalogues as I happened to have at hand, which led me to suppose that it had, like too many plants, more names than one.—
Charles Darwin.
Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3951,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on