54 ESTABLISHMENT OF VARIETIES IN COLEUS 



enormous foliage, with remarkable combinations of shades of carmine, 

 yellow, and green. 20 types are mentioned by name and 12 of these 

 are described. 



Pynaert (1881) states that about 250 varieties of Coleus had been 

 put upon the market. He notes that it is difficult to establish a nomen- 

 clature for the various Coleus varieties. He describes and illustrates 

 in color a variety called Reine des Beiges which arose from seed of the 

 variety Duchess of Edinburgh, a variety illustrated in the Floral 

 Magazine in 1874. The leaves of the Duchess of Edinburgh pos- 

 sessed a yellow border; the Reine des Beiges had the yellow in the 

 center of the leaves. The relative position of the green and the 

 yellow was therefore reversed, which is the difference between types 

 green-yellow-red blotched and yellow-green-red blotched already reported 

 in this paper. 



From the evidence at hand it is clear that a large number of types of 

 Coleus have been produced. Probably the same type or nearly identical 

 types have been given different trade names. With the exception of 

 the first hybrids produced by Bause, there is almost no record of the 

 parentage of most types. The plants attracted attention solely on 

 account of their variegated foliage, and for a time were more extensively 

 used as bedding and foliage plants than they are at the present time. 



From the standpoint of genetics, it is suggestive that such wide 

 variation appeared in the cultivation and hybridization of the 4 species 

 already discussed, although it should be noted that there is the possibil- 

 ity that other species were concerned in the parentage of some of the 

 varieties now in cultivation. The parent species possessed a green 

 background, or at least were without pronounced yellow. The epider- 

 mis especially was more or less colored with purple or red in blumei, 

 verschaffeltii, and veitchii, while in gibsonii the purplish coloring was 

 largely confined to the veins. 



In the varieties derived from these, yellow appeared as a pronounced 

 part of the coloration. Some types were largely yellow, others were 

 pale yellow, and others were entirely green. In many the yellow was 

 localized at the border, but in others it was at the center and in others 

 the yellow blotches were well distributed. These variations in yellow 

 and green were combined with variations in amount and quality of 

 epidermal and internal (chiefly in veins) development of purplish and 

 red tints. 



The historical evidence indicates that the form of Coleus used 

 in the experiments here reported is derived from C. blumei. In 

 respect to the cuneate base of the leaf-blades and the marginal charac- 

 ter of the first pair of lateral veins almost making the petiole attenuate, 

 the leaves of all types but the laciniate agree almost exactly with 

 that of the figure for C. blumei (Bot. Mag., 1853). This character dif- 

 ferentiated sharply C. blumei from C. verschaffeltii, C. veitchii, and C. 

 gibsonii or any other species introduced into cultivation, and seems to 



