280 LUTHER BURBANK 



given us an abundance of red and yellow and 

 white ones. 



Of course, there may be some underlying rea- 

 son associated with the chemical character of the 

 different colors that helps to account for the 

 relative scarcity of blue flowers. But, as to this, 

 no one at present has any definite knowledge, 

 for the chemistry of the colors, and the under- 

 lying differences between the colors in the petals 

 of flowers, are very little understood. 



But, whatever the explanation, the fact of the 

 scarcity of blue flowers is patent enough. Where 

 a flower has adopted the blue color, it may hold 

 to it tenaciously. But, on the other hand, there 

 are thousands of blossoms that show great vari- 

 ation in color, ranging through the various tones 

 of scarlet and crimson and pink and orange and 

 yellow, apparently quite without discrimination, 

 yet avoiding blues of every type. 



A BLUE POPPY 



Conspicuous among the flowers that show this 

 wide range of variation in color, and yet never 

 by any chance have been known to produce a 

 blue flower in the state of nature, is the familiar 

 poppy. 



So the production of a blue poppy, through a 

 long series of selective experiments, may be con- 



