BUD VARIATIONS. 227 



BUD VARIATIONS. 



PROF. SAMUEL B. GREEN, ST. ANTHONY FALLS. 



We all have a confidence as the result of our experience that 

 the operations of nature are measureably uniform and consecutive. 

 Thus we generally believe that our native plants come true from 

 seed and that seedlings vary very little, and yet on a careful exami- 

 nation of any of our plants it is plain that there are many small dif- 

 ferences which in the first general survey we have overlooked. We 

 find, for instance, that every living thing has individuality, that 

 there are no plants or parts of plants that are exactly alike. The 

 breeder says that "like produces like," and yet he knows that it is 

 not really true, for the simple reason that like never did produce 

 exactly like, and the fact that there are no things that are alike 

 shows that the greatest tendency in organisms is" to be unlike. 



In thinking of plant individuals we generally think of the "seed 

 individual," but there is such a thing as the "bud individual." If 

 every portion of a tree is different from every other portion, then 

 each portion has individuality. Perhaps the most correct way of 

 thinking of a tree is that it is a community of individuals, a society, 

 so to speak, made up of many members. As a rule, these members 

 are so nearly alike that we say "they are as like as two peas in a 

 pod," nevertheless there were never two peas in a pod that were ex- 

 actly the same. Now when these "bud variations" become very unlike 

 their mates, then we have what is known as "bud sports," or "bud 

 variations." These are quite common, and it is only our careless 

 observation that prevents our seeing more of them. Let me illus- 

 trate a few of these. 



Here is a plant which I take at random from -these standing 

 here, which has its green foliage striped with white. This is known 

 as Aspedistra, and each leaf comes from a bud, but some leaves 

 are nearly white, showing a strong bud variation. The original 

 plant had green leaves and did not show any decided variation, but 

 under cultivation this plant has shown a strong tendency to bud 

 variation, and by cultivation of plants we simply mean the keeping 

 down of their competitors and the giving to them of every oppor- 

 tunity to acquire the benefits of light and air and plant food. 



A few years ago Mr. Malmquist, Senator Washburn's garden- 

 er, grew a coleus which had red leaves and a greenish yellow edge. 

 This produced a branch which was almost entirely greenish yellow. 

 He propagated this branch and found that it had the power of 

 reproducing itself from cuttings, and it was but a short time before 

 we had a new coleus with greenish yellow leaves, and it was sent 

 out under the name of "Fair Oaks." 



