270 



The Journal of Heredity 



FALSE WILD OATS IN GARTON VARIETY 



Figure 10 Left to right are shown normal, intermediate, and false wild Garton 784 

 The intermediate and false wild oats are characterized by awns, which ^--^ absent m the 

 normarfo^m The false wild oats closely resemble wild oats (Avcna '!"^«)'/"d some 

 authorities are of the opinion that false wild oats are due to natural crossing between wild 

 and cultivated oats. 



tested. In no case did a plant produce 

 seed which germinated less than 70 per 

 cent and only nine plants out of 184 

 produced seed that germinated less 

 than 85 per cent. The sativa, the 

 heterozygous false wild, and the homo- 

 zygous false wild forms of the varie- 

 ties Victory and Garton 784 are very 

 similar with respect to seed germina- 

 tion. Homozygous false wild Aurora 

 gave percentages of germination ap- 

 I)arently somewhat higher than Aurf)ra 

 an^^ heterozveous false wild Aurora. 



The failure of some of the seed to 

 germinate in the above forms was not 

 owing to delayed germination. The 



seeds which showed no signs of germ- 

 ination at the end of six days were 

 handled in exactly the same way as 

 the ungerminated seeds of the parents 

 and hybrids mentioned in the preceding 

 section. In no case did a seared or 

 cut seed of a sativa, a heterozygous 

 false wild or a homozygous false wild 

 plant germinate. Moreover every seed 

 which failed to germinate during the 

 first six days of the test, became soft 

 and partly decayed by the time the test 

 was completed (thirteen days.) 



A year earlier a similar germination 

 test was made of seed from homozy- 

 gous false wild, heterozygous false 



