256 MUTATIONS OF OENOTHERA SUAVEOLENS DESF. 



1916 a culture of 80 specimens, which were uniform throughout 

 their whole life, and exactly resembled their parent. There were 70 

 rosettes and 10 annuals, of which 7 flowered. 



The resemblance with biennis was so strong as to make a descrip- 

 tion of the differences very difficult. The radical leaves were, however, 

 narrower and longer, reminding of the marks of the other parent, 

 but had the red mid-veins of Oe. biennis. At the time of flowering 

 there were only small differences in the density of the spike and 

 the size and structure of the flowers. 



Oe. syrticola x suaveolens. I made two crosses in 1913, sowed 

 the seeds of one pair of parents in 1914 and of another in 1915. 

 All the seedlings became annual and more than half of them were 

 left to flower in August and September. They were a uniform lot, 

 showing the bluish green foliage of other hybrids of Oe. syrticola 

 and resembling this parent in many points. A high stature with 

 strong stems and almost linear leaves and small flowers reminded 

 of the female parent. But the foliage and especially the spikes were 

 more loose, the leaves broader, the petals larger, etc., showing 

 clearly the influence of the pollen parent. In almost all respects 

 the hybrids were more or less intermediate. 



I repeated the cross in 1915 and had in 1916 a first generation of 

 70 plants, half of which flowered. They were as uniform as the 

 previous lots, and of the same type. 



From the cross of 1913 I sowed a second generation (seeds of 

 1915) in 1916 and got 64 flowering plants. Here a splitting occurred 

 which, however, did not reproduce one of the parental types, but 

 that of the mutant lutescens. There were 24, or 37 percent, of these 

 deviating specimens. They were almost exactly like Oe. suaveolens 

 mut. lutescens. The remaining plants repeated the former generation 

 in all their visible marks. It is evident that this occurrence of spe- 

 cimens of lutescens must be ascribed to the mutability of Oe. suaveolens, 

 but a detailed explanation would need further experiments. 



Oe. suaveolens x syrticola. Like the crosses of the pollen of 

 Oe. syrticola with other species, the seedlings of this cross were for 

 the greatest part yellow and weak. Among 70 seedlings 58 died 

 from this cause before they could make their first leaf. Of the 12 

 others, the cotyledons of which had a greenish yellow color, but 

 were still too weak, only one has survived. It had the long and 

 narrow leaves of the type described as gracilis for other hybrids 

 of Oe. syrticola; the radical ones measured, e.g., 20 x 3 cm. It 

 has not flowered. 



