COMMON GARDEN PLANTS 127 



and carrot, by the very fact of its obstinate 

 resistance to any change. This is the plant 

 called Salsify, usually known to gardeners as 

 the oyster plant or vegetable oyster. It is a 

 biennial plant having long, slender, light gray 

 roots. 



There is only one greatly improved horticul- 

 tural variety. This is known as the Sandwich 

 Island Mammoth. It is fully twice as large as 

 the ordinary salsify, which it otherwise closely 

 resembles. 



I have worked with the Sandwich Island Mam- 

 moth with particular reference to improving the 

 smoothness and plumpness of its root. But it 

 was found to be one of the most stubbornly fixed 

 of plants. This is quite what might be expected 

 of a plant that has only one species under culti- 

 vation. We have elsewhere seen that the plants 

 that have many species are the ones that tend to 

 vary. 



There are, however, two or three wild mem- 

 bers of the tribe, one known as the Spanish salsify 

 and another as the black salsify, a native of 

 Europe. 



It is possible that these might be used to 

 hybridize with the ordinary and the Sandwich 

 Island species, and that the element of variability 

 might thus be introduced. 



