Or plants,
which from the beginning were robust, may have become crowded together
by further growth, and for these reasons become weaker than their
congeners, though retaining the full development of the staminodal
crown, which was fixed during the sensitive period and before the
crowding. I have searched my beds yearly for several years in vain to
find individuals which might recommend themselves for selection without
having the stamp of permanent, [392] or at least temporarily better,
nourishment. No starting-point for such an independent selection has
ever been met with.
Summing up the consequences of this somewhat extended discussion, we may
state it as a rule that a general proportion between the individual
strength and the degree of development of the anomaly exists. And from
this point of view it is easy to see that all external causes which are
known to affect the one, must be expected to influence the other also.
It will therefore hardly be necessary to give a full description of all
my experiments on the relations of the monstrosity to external
conditions. A hasty survey will suffice.
This survey is not only intended to convey an idea of the relations of
pistilloid poppies to their environment, but may serve as an example of
the principle involved. According to my experience with a large range of
other anomalies, the same rule prevails everywhere.
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