NOTE ON A HYBRID OF MIRABILIS. 279 
NOTE ON A HYBRID OF MIRABILIS. 
By Monsieur P. CHAPPELLIER. 
Mirabilis longiflora fertilised by the pollen of M. jalapa has given me 
an interesting hybrid. 
This hybrid is, like many others, notably more vigorous than either 
of its parents—in fact, it has tubers of good size, about three years old, 
furnished with supports and forming bush-like plants, 2 metres in height, 
and if the branches, unsupported, are allowed to take their natural 
direction, a single plant can form a clump nearly 4 metres across. 
On a strong plant I have counted nearly 400 flowers, exhaling a sweet 
odour, and which, be it understood, are renewed every day. 
When frost sets in, the plants are still covered with buds. 
Monsieur Naudin formerly cultivated my hybrid at the Museum. 
I mention it as possessing in the highest degree the character which 
is termed ‘disorderly variation’ (variation désordonnée). 
The seeds of my hybrids are fertile, but they never exactly reproduce 
the type. There is found among the sowings the most varied and the 
most bizarre forms; some of them are so weakly and feeble as to appear 
to have been born vitally incapable. 
The true plant can therefore only be propagated by buds or divisions 
of the tubers. 
Monsieur Lepelletier had previously obtained a hybrid Mirabilis, all 
trace of which has disappeared. Desiring that mine should not suffer 
the same fate (as it is not in commerce), I offer to give young plants 
to such amateurs as may desire to have them. 
