HYBRIDISATION VIEWED FROM SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 185 
and the Jonquil, the seedlings proving absolutely identical with the wild 
plant. Mr. Baker classes this hybrid as a form of N. triandrus. 
Perhaps the first direct experiment of this kind was made by Linnzus, 
who suspected the hybrid origin of a certain Tragopogon in the garden 
at Upsala, where 7’. pratensis and 7’. porrifolius were cultivated. Accord- 
ingly he fertilised flowers of the former with pollen of the latter, and 
obtained seedlings, which flowered in the summer of 1759, and proved 
identical, receiving the name 7’. hybridum (“ Amoen. Acad.,” x. p. 126). 
This hybrid has since been found in a wild state with its two parents. 
A hybrid Verbascum was also produced in the garden at Upsala in 
1761, from seeds of V. lychnitis impregnated with the pollen of V. 
Thapsus ; which Withering states also grows wild in Kent (‘“ Brit. Pl.,” 
ed. 3,11. p. 249). Mr. Griffith, of Denbighshire, also raised it artificially 
from the same cross, and sent specimens to Sir J. E. Smith 
(“Sm. Engl. Fl.,” i. p. 310). Kélreuter also raised it, both from the 
same and from the reversed cross. As a wild plant it is widely 
diffused in Central Kurope. 
Another hybrid Verbascwm was also recorded by Withering (l.c., p. 248), 
whose history is thus given. In the spring of 1789 a Mr. Robson planted 
a root of V. nigrum near one of V. Thapsus in his garden, when both 
flowered well, and the latter was allowed to stand and shed its seeds. 
Next spring several plants appeared which were different from either 
species, but partook of the characters of both, and for five successive 
seasons they flowered, but produced no perfect seed. Though rightly. 
called a hybrid, it was recorded under its Linnean name of V. Thapsus 
var. Thapso-mgrum, which name itself suggests that its real origin was 
pretty shrewdly guessed. Kdélreuter also raised it from the same and 
from the reversed cross. It is found wild in various localities in Europe, 
and has various names. 
Various other wild species have been crossed together artificially, and 
the resulting hybrids have proved identical with wild plants, which in 
many cases have been originally described as species, and sometimes 
under various names. According to Focke, no fewer than twenty-three 
distinct combinations have been made artificially which have yielded 
hybrids identical with wild ones, and one of these, namely, V. blattaria x 
pheniceum, has also appeared spontaneously in gardens where the two 
species have been grown. One other has been so far proved that spon- 
taneous hybrids, agreeing with wild ones, have appeared where V. 
phlomoides and V. speciosum have grown side by side, the pollen having 
evidently been transferred by insects, as occurs in nature. In at least 
six of the above cases the parentage was also reversed with the same 
result. 
Digitalis supplies some wild hybrids whose origin has been artificially 
demonstrated. For example D. purpurascens, Roth, has been reconstructed 
by crossing and recrossing D. lutea and D. purpurea; and D. media, 
Roth, in the same way from D. purpurea and D. ambigua (grandiflora). 
The former hybrid is evidently raised with the greatest facility, for it 
has appeared in several gardens where the two parent species are grown. 
D. ambigua has also been crossed with D. purpurea and with D. lanata, 
in each case yielding hybrids which also occur wild. 
