204 Retrograde Varieties 



at its base. The two lateral lobes are narrower, 

 sometimes linear, and are often prolonged into 

 an awn, which is generally turned away from 

 the center of the spike. The central lobe some- 

 times bears two florets at its base, although but 

 one is usually present and it may be incomplete. 

 I might give one more instance from my own 

 experience. A variety of the evening -primrose 

 with small linear petals was once found by one 

 of my sons growing wild near Amsterdam. It 

 was represented by only one individual, flower- 

 ing among a great many of the ordinary type 

 with broad petals. But the evening-primroses 

 open their anthers in the morning, fertilize 

 themselves during the day, and only display 

 their beautiful flowers in the evening, after the 

 pollination has been accomplished. They then 

 allure evening moths, such as Agrotis and 

 Plusia, by their bright color, their sweet honey- 

 smell and their nectar. Since the fertiliza- 

 tion is accomplished many hours before opening, 

 crosses are effected only in rare instances, and 

 the seeds commonly remain true to the parent- 

 type. The seeds of this one plant, when sown 

 separately in my garden, produced exclusively 

 flowers with the small linear petals of their 

 parent. Although I had a hundred individuals 

 bearing many thousands of flowers, there was 

 not an instance of reversion. And such would 



