252 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
ON THE PARTICULAR INFLUENCE, OF EACH PARENT 
IN HYBRIDS. 
By Dr. L. Wirrmack, Berlin, Corresponding Member of the 
Royal Horticultural Society. 
THERE are two important questions in connection with crossing which 
cannot be replied to in a general way, as the factors differ in every family 
or genus. These are :— 
Which parts in the hybrids are influenced by the father and which by 
the mother? And 
Whose influence is the greater ? 
Obviously the questions become the more complicated when the parents 
themselves are not true species, but are already hybrids. My experiences, 
relating chiefly to cereals and Bromeliacee, tend to show that the 
mother plant usually determines the habit, that is, the vegetative portion ; 
while the father has the greater influence upon the floral parts, and, 
in Bromeliacez especially, upon the colour. 
An example illustrating this is seen in the hybrid raised by Dr. 
Rimpau, of Schlanstedt (now in Langenstein) between Wheat @ and 
Rye g. The habit of this plant is like that of Wheat, and also the 
glumes are more or less boat-shaped, as in Wheat, but the form of the 
ears, the length of time the spicule remain open at the flowering period, 
and the longer antherz indicate decidedly the paternal influence. 
A second instance is seen in the recently announced hybrid between 
Zeeland Wheat and Squarehead Wheat, which has been raised by Professor 
Broekema, Director of the Royal Agricultural School at Wageningen, in 
Holland. If he used the Squarehead as father the ears became closer, 
resembling the Squarehead; also the upper limb of the stalk became 
thick as in that variety ; if, however, he used the Zeeland form as father, 
the ears became longer, more pointed, and the upper stalk limb thinner, 
agreeing thus with the character of the Zeeland ears. 
Many instances may be cited in the Bromeliacew, and I am indebted 
for arich supply of material of this family to different gardeners, especially 
to the head gardener Mr. Kittel, hitherto in Eckersdorf, but now in Breslau, 
Silesia, well known through his crossings, and to other gardeners. Many 
hybrids are delineated in the German “ Garten-Zeitung”’ and in the 
‘“* Gartenflora.”’ 
I may mention :— 
1. Billbergia hybrida Worleana, Wittmack (Billbergia nutans ¢ xB. 
Moreliana ¢), in which the whole inflorescence is nodding as in nutans. 
The petals, however, are not green, but dark blue, as in Moreliana 
(“ Deutsche Garten-Zeitung,” 1886, p. 459, with illustration). 
2. Billbergia hybrida Gireoudiana, Kramer and Wittmack 
(Saundersii 9 x thyrsoidea 7), which shows the white spotted leaves of 
the mother, but in lieu of her pendent inflorescence the upright spike of 
the father (‘‘ Gartenflora,”’ 1887, p. 330). 
3. Billbergia Breauteana, Kh. André (vittata 9 x pallescens 3), which 
