HYBRIDISATION AND ITS FAILURES. 85 
Oneidiwm Papilio x Phalenopsis grandiflora was crossed, but failed 
at the Utrecht University Botanic Gardens; but the reverse cross has 
succeeded, the seeds of which have been saved and sown, but the result 
is at present unknown.* 
Non-reciprocity also occurred in Epidendrum. Thus Mr. Veitch 
found that L. radicans could be successfully used as the male parent with 
E. evectum, Cattleya Bowringiana, Lelia purpurata, and Sophronitis 
grandiflora; but when itself has been used as the seed-bearer the cross 
invariably failed. Trials have been made with the pollen of its own 
progeny, as Hpiphronitis Veitchii (=H. radicans, male; Sophronitis 
grandiflora, female), and of HE. Obrienianum (EH. radicans, male; E. 
evectum, female), but with no better result. Yet when pollinated with 
its own pollen it seeds freely.t 
INFERTILE “CROSSES”? BETWEEN VARIETIES.—As different species 
of one and the same genus may or may not yield successful hybrids— 
thus, while the “ Fancy’ Pelargonia and the zonals mostly breed together, 
respectively, yet these two sections will not unite—so, too, is it the 
case with varieties. Mr. C. E. Pearson writes me on crossing Pelargonium 
vars.: “The French seem to have differentiated three strains of 
zonal Pelargoniums, two of which are quite sterile with our own. The 
first failure was with a variety called, I think, Dame Blanche (some 
twenty years ago), which refused to cross, either as male or female, with 
our English varieties, but was fertile with its French contemporaries. 
The second was with the ‘Bruant’ race of zonals, a strain with huge 
trusses, but very irregular pips with large windmill-sail petals. I have 
not tried all these, but those I did were all sterile, both ways. 
“The most recent French strain, originating in Jules Chrétien, 
crosses freely with ours. 
‘““T may also mention that there is a close relation between colour and 
fertility in some zonals, the very dark crimsons being so nearly sterile as 
to make seed-raising difficult, the sterility being in proportion to the 
depth of the colour.’ 
This last observation refers to self-fertilisation, and agrees with 
Darwin’s. It is because the flowers are strongly proterandrous. In the 
paler varieties, as ‘‘ Christine,” they are more nearly homogamous, and 
consequently are very self-fertile.t 
Dr. Denny found similar inconsistencies among varieties of Pelar- 
gonia in 1873. He writes: ‘I have alluded to the antipathies and 
affinities we find to exist, without any explicable cause; for instance, I 
have found it impossible to fertilise three or four varieties of the scarlet 
Pelargonium (viz. the Duke of Cornwall, Dr. Muret, Beauté de Suresnes, 
and all that section of the doubles which sprang from Beauté de Suresnes), 
which to all appearance are mere varieties of the zonal section—sayve 
with one another.’ § 
A florist informed me (in 1880) that he found the “ rough-leayed”’ 
fancy Pelargonia, the flowers of which have a blotch-on all five petals 
* Communicated by Mr. Krelage, from Mr. J. K. Budde, the curator. 
t+ See also paper by Mr. C. C. Hurst, Gard. Chron. Jan. 7, 1899, p. 14 seqq. 
t See Darwin’s Cross and Self Fertilisation of Plants, pp. 142 note and 352. 
§ Op. cit. p. 22. 
