92 The Flora of Glai)iorgan. 



A full account of the experiments is reserved until the work has 

 been completed. The more salient characters serving to define the 

 segregates may, however, be profitably given here. 



{a) prescox, Trow. This form, when young, has a somewhat zig-zag 

 stem, with few, but very long internodes ; the leaves are nearly 

 plane and not deeply pinnatifid as in the other types; the main 

 axis, too, is soon overtopped, and even pushed aside by a lateral 

 branch ; and the capitula are small and slender. The time from 

 the date of sowing to the production of ripe seeds, a time which 

 may well be called a ' generation,' is 72 days. (30th March, 1908, 

 to loth June, 1908.) This form exhibits definite adaptations in 

 all its parts to secure rapid development and early maturity. 



{b) erectus, Trow. This form has many rather short and stout inter- 

 nodes, and a straight erect stem. The leaves are deeply pinnatifid, 

 indeed pinnatisect, somewhat yellow green in colour and strikingly 

 pectinate when half developed, especially near the apex of the stem. 

 The capitula are of medium size. A generation equals 83 days. 

 (30th March, 1908, to 21st June, 1908.) 



(c) erectus, var. radiatus, Trow. This is the radiate form of the 

 preceding type. I cannot, indeed, distinguish the one from the 

 other, at any time up to the moment when the flowers begin to 

 appear, when, of course, the difference becomes very obvious. The 

 ray florets are sometimes very long, and are revolute only at night, 

 in bad weather, or in old flowers, — the number per capitulum ranging 

 from 8 to 13. The ray florets do not correspond to the figure in 

 Sowerby's Eng. Bot. Ed. III., which is no doubt drawn from a 

 Channel Island specimen. A generation equals 83 days. 



[d) multicaiilis. Trow. This is readily recognisable by the following 

 characters : — (i) the dark green colour with a greyish surface tone ; 

 (2) leaves like those of erectus, but longer; (3) large capitula — broad 

 and rather short ; (4) the soft yellow colour of the disc florets ; 

 (5) the browning of the disc after pollination ; (6) the short basal 

 internodes (10 or more) and hence the biennial appearance when 

 young (leaf rosette) and the production of iiumeroiis stems [mitlticaitlis) 

 springing from the base later ; (7) the long internodes of the upper 

 branches, giving an open character to the inflorescence ; (8) a long 

 conspicuous bract on the pedicel of the terminal capitulum ; (9) long 

 bracts subtending the upper branches; (10) the tendency to keep 

 the capitula nearly erect during the ripening of the fruit ; and 

 (11) the large cotyledons of the seedlings. A generation equals 

 90 days. (30th March, 1908, to 28th June, 1908.) 



Upon the whole, prcecox may be described in the gardener's 

 terminology as early, multicaulis as late, and erectus as intermediate. 



The radiate form with short, sometimes almost erect, and 

 distinctly toothed rays is the hybrid of erectus, var. radiatus with one 

 of the other forms, generally erectus. It has been noted at Cardiff 1 

 Penarth ! and Barry ! 



These four segregates maintain their distinctive characters 

 when grown side by side under the same conditions and protected 

 from cross-pollination. 



