104 BUD- VARIATION. Chap. XI. 



states that a pale rose-coloured variety produced a branch bearing 

 deep red flowers. " Cuttings were taken from this ' sport,' from 

 " which 20 plants were raised, which flowered in 1867, when it was 

 " found that scarcely two were alike." Some resembled the parent- 

 form, some resembled the sport, some bore both kinds of flowers ; 

 and even some of the petals on the same flower were rose-coloured 

 and others red. 33 An English wild plant, the Geranium pratense, 

 when cultivated in a garden, has been seen to produce on the same 

 plant both blue and white, and striped blue and white flowers. 34 



Chrysanthemum. — This plant frequently sports, both by its lateral 

 branches and occasionally by suckers. A seedling raised by 

 Mr. Salter has produced by bud-variation six distinct sorts, five 

 different in colour and one in foliage, all of which are now fixed. 35 

 A variety called cedo nulli bears small yellow flowers, but habitu- 

 ally produces branches with white flowers ; and a specimen was 

 exhibited, which Prof. T. Dyer saw, before the Horticultural Society. 

 The varieties which were first introduced from China were so 

 excessively variable, " that it was extremely difficult to tell which 

 was the original colour of the variety, and which was the sport." 

 The same plant would produce one year only buff-coloured, and 

 next year only rose-coloured flowers; and then would change again, 

 or produce at the same time flowers of both colours. These fluc- 

 tuating varieties are now all lost, and, when a branch sports into a 

 new variety, it can generally be propagated and kept true ; but, as 

 Mr. Salter remarks, " every sport should be thoroughly tested in 

 " different soils before it can be really considered as fixed, as many 

 " have been known to run back when planted in rich compost ; but 

 " when sufficient care and time are expended in proving, there will 

 " exist little danger of subsequent disappointment." Mr. Salter 

 informs me that with all the varieties the commonest kind of bud- 

 variation is the production of yellow flowers, and, as this is the 

 primordial colour, these cases may be attributed to reversion. 

 Mr. Salter has given me a list of seven differently coloured chrysan- 

 themums, which have all produced branches with yellow flowers ; 

 but three of them have also sported into other colours. With any 

 change of colour in the flower, the foliage generally changes in a 

 corresponding manner in lightness or darkness. 



Another Compositous plant, namely, Oentauria cyanus, when culti- 

 vated in a garden, not unfrequently produces on the same root flowers 

 of four different colours, viz., blue, white, dark-purple, and parti- 

 coloured. 36 The flowers of Anthemis also vary on the same plant. 37 



Roses. — Many varieties of the Eose are known or are believed to 



33 Dr. Maxwell Masters, 'Pop. p. 41, &c. 



Science Review,' July, 1872, p. 254. 3<J Bree, in Loudon's ' Gard. Mag.,' 



34 Rev. W. T. Bree, in Loudon's vol. viii., 1832, p. 93. 



' Gard. Mag.,' vol. viii., 1832, p. 93. 37 Bronn, ' Geschi -hte der Natur,' 



35 'The Chrysanthemum: its His- B. ii. s. 123. 

 tory and Culture,' by J. Salter, 1865, 



