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ELEMENTARY BOTANY. 



XXXV 



Herbs eaten down by sheep or cattle, or crushed underfoot, or otherwise checked 

 in their growth, or trees or shrubs cut down to the ground, if then exposed to 

 favourable circumstances of soil and climate, will send up luxuriant side-shoots, 

 often so different in the form of their leaves, in their ramification and inflorescence, 

 as to be scarcely recognisable for the same species. . 



Annuals* which have germinated in spring, and flowered without check, will often 

 he very different in aspect from individuals of the same species, which, having ger- 

 minated later, are stopped by summer droughts or the approach of winter, and 

 only flower the following season upon a second growth. The latter have otten 



been mistaken for perennials. 



Hybrids, or crosses between two distinct species, come under the sanie category 

 of anomalous specimens from a known cause. Frequent as they are m gardens, 

 where they are artificially produced, they are probably rare in nature, although on 

 this subject there is much diversity of opinion, some believing them to be very 

 frequent, others ahnost denying their existence. Absolute proof of the ^^i^^ ot a 

 plant found wild, is of course impossible ; but it is pretty generally agreed that the 

 following particulars must always co-exist in a wild hybrid. It partakes of tne cna- 

 racters of its two parents ; it is to be found isolated, or almost isolated, m places wnere 

 the two parents are abundant ; if there are two or three, they will g^nera^Ay/^® dis- 

 similar from each other, one partaking more of one parent, another of the otner; it 

 seldom ripens good seed ; it will never be found where one of the parents grows alone. 



Where two supposed species grow together, intermixed with numerous inter- 

 mediates bearing good seed, and passing more or less gradually from the one to tne 

 other, it may generaUy be concluded that the whole are mere varieties of one species. 

 The beginner, however, must be very cautious not to set down a specimen as inter- 

 mediate between two species, because it appears to be so, in some, even the mosL . 

 striking characters, such as stature and foliage. Extreme varieties of one species 



n» . .,..., - . . . ,, . , ^. 1 _ J- U.-.4- +i»rtao frnTiaitinna are 



not aU observable in the same specimens. The observation of a single intermeaw^; 

 ^ therefore of little value, unless it be one link in a long series of intermedaate torms, 

 and, when met'with, should lead to the search for the other connecting inks ^ . 

 . (2.) Accidental aberrations from the ordinary type, that i^, those of which the cause 



These require the more attention, as they may sometimes lead the beginner far 

 astray in his search for the crenus, whilst the aberrations above mentipneci, as 

 reducible more or less to general laws, affect chiefly the distinction of species. 



Almost all species with coloured flowers are liable to occur occasionally witn 

 tnem all white. i 4. • •+>, a 



Many may be found even in a wild state with double flowers, that is, wiin a 

 .niultiplication of pet als •+ 1 t 



Plants which have usually conspicuous petals will occasionally '"^Plf ";j'™; 

 aj? a,t all, either to the flowers produced at particular seasons or to all the flowers 

 01 individual plants, or the petals may be reduced to narrow slips. 



their irregularity' or appear in some very different shape. Spurs, for instance, may 

 ^ ^tiisappear, or be produced on all instead of one only of the petab. „„^i,pr of 



\iS^- P^'^ ."^'-^y be occasionally added to, or subtracted from,_ the usual number 



%i.^ -^ " "''^y '^e occasionally addea to, or suuirai;i,cii xw^., — -- 

 parts m each floral whorl, more especially in regular Polype^'^l«"?J^^^,^r!;„l,rodite, 

 .Plants usually moncecious or dicpcious may become occasionally J^er map h rom^^ 

 OrWinaphrodite plants may produce occasionally unisexual flowers by the abortio 



« the stamens or of the pistils. . . , ^^ ,_^tted where 



Leaves cut or divided where they arc usually entire, variegated or ^r««^^^ 

 a^ofi''!?'^'^^^y«f ^^^ colour, or the reverse^ must also be cUssed amongst t^^ 

 ^cidenial aberrations which the botanist must always be on his guard against mis 

 '^ag for specific distinctions. . - : • 



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