Comparison of the Old and New Species. 457 



pale leaves. They look very much alike when young, 

 but the first of them can be distinguished earlier and with 

 greater certainty from its neighbors (in hybrid crops 

 for example). Rosettes of 0. gigas are much larger and 

 stronger than those of O. Lamarckiana ; these are about 

 as vigorous as O. biennis, but their leaves are not smooth 

 like those of O. hiennis but uneven. O. elliptica is often 

 scarcely distinguishable from O. cruciata; 0. suhlinearis 



Fig. 103. Full grown leaves of young rosettes in June at 

 the age of 3 months. B, O. biennis; M, O. muricata; S, 

 O. suaveolcns. 



has the narrowest leaves of the whole group. Between 

 this latter and 0. gigas the various old and new species 

 form a perfect series of transitional forms. 



Although single individuals or their figures convey 

 only a very imperfect impression of a species, I invite 

 the reader to compare Figs. 102 and 103 with those, 

 which have already been given, of rosettes and leaves. 



