214 LUTHER BURBANK 



"One of them has large showy flowers, the 

 other small and inconspicuous ones. The botanist 

 calls the large-flowered species Madia elegans, 

 and the other M. sativa. The two species do not 

 look much alike, and some botanists even classify 

 them in different genera. 



"If you look at all closely you will see that 

 there is a third form of plant, bearing some re- 

 semblance to each of them, growing among the 

 others, and that this is a natural hybrid between 

 the two. 



"If you examine this hybrid, you will find that 

 its branches are less spreading than those of its 

 large-flowered parent, although not upright like 

 those of the other parent; and that the stem is 

 stouter than that of either parent. As to foliage, 

 the hybrid plants have larger and thicker leaves 

 than those of the large-flowered tarweed, more 

 closely resembling the other species in this re- 

 spect, but the ray flowers are intermediate in size 

 and shape as well as color, the reddish-brown that 

 characterizes the flower of the more conspicuous 

 parent being reduced in the hybrid to a spot just 

 in the top of the tube. 



"So here you are probably witnessing the crea- 

 tion of a new species in nature. You, of course, 

 are an evolutionist and therefore are aware that 

 all species of plants as well as animals have been 



