46 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



fact due to a carmine pigment dissolved 

 in the sap; it appears cliestnut because 

 on an orange background. Knowing 

 this, the problem was to get it on to 

 another background, in order to bring 

 out the wine-red color. We should 

 have preferred white, but no white- 

 rayed sunflowers are known. The near- 

 est approximation is a very pale yellow, 

 which we have found as a wild sport, 

 but which has 

 also been long 

 in cultivation. 

 In England it 

 is called the 

 primrose sun- 

 flower, because 

 the color is like 

 that of an Eng- 

 lish primrose. 

 Crossing the 

 full red sun- 

 flower with the 

 ])rimrose vari- 

 ety, we got, as 

 expected, off- 

 spring like the 

 red parent. 



These were 



raised in the 

 greenhouse dur- 

 ing the win- 

 ter, to save a 

 year, and were 

 crossed with 

 one another. 

 Their offspring 



included chestnut-red, plain orange, 

 primrose, and the expected wine-red, 

 which is simply red on a primrose 

 background. All this appeared, not 

 only as expected, but nearly in the pro- 

 portions which were deduced on theo- 

 retical grounds. Thus we had the fol- 

 lowino- : 



Species-}iybrid Heiianthug annuim (red) x petiolari-n. 

 the latter being the seed parent. Grown in Boulder in 

 1917. The n. petiolaris parent was raised from seed 

 collected in Oklahoma 



The wine-red, thus obtained according 

 to definite rules of breeding, was an 

 entirely new color variety, yet its quali- 

 ties existed separately in its grandpar- 

 ents. Just how it all works out, we 

 will not attempt to explain in this arti- 

 cle, but it is in accordance with the 

 laws discovered by Gregor Mendel 

 many years ago, and fully set forth in 

 many recent works as "Mendelism."" 



It is often 

 supposed that 

 when a breeder 

 desires to pro- 

 duce new 

 plants, he has 

 only to cross 

 different species 

 ])ossessing do- 

 sirable char- 

 acters. Tlie 

 chances of suc- 

 cess in doing 

 this vary very 

 much according 

 to the kinds of 

 ])lants iTsed. 

 Among the hot- 

 liouse orchids, 

 hybrids between 

 different gen- 

 era are common, 

 and as they can 

 be propagated 

 by division, 

 they are capa- 

 ble of being 

 increased without losing their char- 

 acters. x\nnual sunflowers, which are 

 propagated by seed, offer much greater 

 difficulties. The annual species so 

 far experimented with readily cross, 

 and produce fertile seed. This seed 

 gives rise to hybrid plants, which are 

 themselves so nearly sterile that they 

 cannot be offered horticulturally. On 

 the other hand, all the varieties of the 

 common sunflower, Helianthus annuus. 

 seem to cross without any impairment 

 of fertility. Even the great so-called 

 Russian sunflower produces quite fer- 



