74 Vniversiln of ('(ilifoniid /'liblicatioiis in Botany [Vol.7 



rarely as large or as healthy as the pui'ple i)ljni1s in the midst of which 

 it grows. Also I ]i;iv(> ivirdy found a var. album away from the 

 company of the normal plant, and never more than three or four 

 plants together, though thi-y are quite common." Elsewhere (18706) 

 he notes the occurrence of a plant with "creamy green" colored petals 

 for a number of ycni-s after l)(Mng transplanted to a garden. Gary 

 (1905) mentions a phint with cream-colored petals and red ovary. 

 and Horsford (1890) reports a considerable local variation in the 

 color forms of this species. Thus, from Pennsylvania comes "the true 

 var. album with pure M'liite flowers as white as those of T. grandi- 

 ftorum. Indeed, a casual observer would take them for yrandifJornm.'" 

 A shade intermediate between the "pure white and the typical 

 T. erect um" and a form in which tlie "petals are of a yellowish shade 

 M'ith a sprinkling of purple" are found in Connecticut. "Botli forms 

 of the variety and the true purple type" occur together. Clute (1908) 

 gives some evidence in this connection. He says that "in eastern 

 America it is almost invariably dark purplish red in color; in the west 

 it is invariably pure white without even a tinge of red." Plants of 

 the red form sent to him from New Britain, Connecticut, came up in 

 his garden (Joliet, Illinois) the following spring bearing, with one 

 exception, pure white flowers, and in this one instance there was only 

 a "trace of red in the stamens." I have been unable to learn more 

 as to the later history of these plants. Clute (1907) also describes a 

 "yellow trillium" in which the "inner tliree leaves of the perianth 

 were wholly a pure sulphur yellow ; the outer leaves of the perianth 

 were pale green below, but as bright a yellow above as the inner part 

 of the perianth." The species is not noted, but the statement is made 

 that the ])lant "grew amongst a larger number of specimens of T. 

 grandiflorum." The remark is made that "seeds from an aberrant 

 plant will usually produce the same form." In seeking an explana- 

 tion of the origin of vai'. dllnim, it seems jiossible tliat in general 

 it may represent a type of "undeveloped ilower" such as is com- 

 mon in the sessile-flowered Califoi'uian species (cf. Goodspeed and 

 Brandt. 1916?;), although the occurrence of intermediate shades be- 

 tween white and red might ratliei' l)e taken to preclude such an 

 interpretation. Certainly conti'dllcd breeding experiments are very 

 necessary in this comiection. 



Strictly teratological variations in <-nvluiit seem to consist solely 

 of vai'ious degrees of doubling without accompanying malformations 

 of a striking character. 



