Mendelism / by R.C. Punnett.

  • Punnett, Reginald Crundall, 1875-1967.
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Mendelism / by R.C. Punnett. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Mendelism this purpose a young flower must be taken in which the anthers have not yet burst. The keel is depressed, and the stamens bearing the anthers are removed at their base by a pair of fine forceps. It will probably be found necessary to tear the keel slightly in order to do this. The pistil is then covered up again with the keel, and the flower is enclosed in a bag of waxed paper until the following day. The stigma is then again exposed and dusted with ripe pollen from a flower of the plant selected as the male parent. This done, the keel is replaced, and the flower again enclosed in its bag, to protect it from the possible attentions of insects until it has set seed. The bag may be removed in about a week after fertilisation. It is perhaps hardly necessary to add, that strict biological cleanliness must be exercised during the fertilising operations. This is readily attained by sterilising fingers and forceps with a little strong spirit before each operation, thereby ensuring the death of any foreign pollen grains which may be present. The above method applies also to sweet peas, with these slight modifications. As the ant'iers ripen relatively sooner in this species, emasculation must be performed at a rather earlier stage. It is generally safe to choose a bud about three parts