If the first has more
than 100 metamorphosed parts, the latter have often less than 50 on the
same plant. In poor soil, terminal heads are often reduced to 10-20
monstrous organs, and in such cases I found the lateral flowers of the
same plants ordinarily with less than 10 altered stamens. In some cases
I allowed the branches of the third and fourth degree, in other words,
the side twigs of the first branches of my selected plants to grow out
and produce flowers in the fall. They were ordinarily weak, sometimes
very small, having only 5-9 stigmas on their central fruit. Secondary
capsules were not seen on such flowers, even when the experiment was
repeated on a [379] somewhat larger scale and during a series of years.
Among the same lot of plants individual differences almost always occur.
They are partly due to inequalities already existing in the seeds, and
partly to the diversity of the various parts of the same bed. Some of
the plants become stout and have large terminal heads. Others remain
very weak, with a slender stem, small leaves and undersized flowers. The
height and thickness of the stem, the growth of the foliage and of the
axillary buds are the most obvious measures of the individual strength
of the plant. The development of the terminal flower and the size of its
ovary manifestly depends largely on this individual strength, as may be
seen at once by the inspection of any bed of opium-poppies.
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