COLOURS IN HYBRIDS. 



567 



which >Sf. nigricans and S. purpurea form with other Willows whose foliage turns 

 brown when it dries up. The colour of the flowers in hybrids is usually the result 

 of a fusion of the colours in the parent-species; less frequently it is a mixture of the 

 original colours. The cases of fusion occur especially amongst the hybrids of 

 Orchids, Louseworts, Anemones, Pulsatillas, Medicagos, and Mulleins. If the tone 

 of the red or blue petals in one parent-species is dull and in the other bright, the 

 same colour reappears in the hybrid, but of a medium tone. Thus the colour of the 

 petals in Gymnadenia conopsea is rose-red and in Nigritella nigra dark blood- 

 red, whilst in their hybrid, Nigritella suaveolens, it is bright carmine. The corolla 

 of Pedicularis incarnata is of a subdued carmine tint, and that of P. recutita of a 

 dark reddish-brown, whilst their hybrid, P. atrorubens, has a dark purple corolla. 

 Where the floral colour of one parent-species is white and that of the other a full 

 yellow, red, or blue, the hybrid's flower usually exhibits a pale yellow, red, or blue 

 coloration. The flowers of Anemone nemorosa are white, those of A. ranunculoides 

 golden-yellow, and those of their hybrid, A. intermedia, sulphur-yellow. The colour 

 of the flowers in a hybrid whose parents have yellow and violet, or blue flowers, 

 respectively, is very remarkable. Medicago media, which is the hybrid oflspring 

 of the yellow-flowered Medicago falcata, and the blue-purple flowered M. satiia 

 very often has green corollas. The hybrids {Verbascum commutatum, V. ruhigi- 

 nosum, V. Schmidtii, V. versifiorum, &;c.) obtained by crossing the yellow-flowered 

 Mulleins with Verbascum phceniceum, whose flowers are a conspicuous purple, all 

 display a bright brown tint in their corollas. The colour in question is just the 

 same as that which is produced by mixing gamboge with the purple prepared from 

 carmine and indigo. Quite a diflTerent tint is exhibited by the corolla of Verbascum 

 pseudophoeniceum, the hybrid generated by crossing V. Blattaria and V. phveni- 

 ceum. One of the parent-species ( V. Blattaria) in this case has pale yellow and the 

 other ( V. phoeniceum) violet-purple corollas, and in the hybrid ( V. pseudojihoeni- 

 ceum) the corolla is pale crimson. Nor are cases wanting in which hybrids have 

 been produced from forms with red and blue flowers respectively. The brilliant 

 scarlet-flowered Delphinium nudicaule has been crossed in the Edinburgh Botanic 

 Garden with the dark blue-flowered D. cashmirianum, the hybrid product being of 

 a lurid purple-red hue. Darwin obtained by crossing the red and blue Pimpernels 

 (Anagallis) a progeny some of w^hich were blue, some red, and some intermediate 

 in colour. As a final instance of this colour-fusion may be cited the hybrid Pitcher- 

 plant Nepenthes Mastersiana. This hybrid is produced from N. sanguinea, the 

 pitchers of which are of large size and vary in colour from greenish-scarlet to 

 crimson, and of N. Kharsiana, which bears long narrow pitchers, varying from 

 yellowish-green to dull red-green. The hybrid (says Macfarlane) presents a 

 corresponding latitude in colour effect, though on the average it is greenish-crimson. 

 The hybrids which originate from crosses between Primula Auricida, whose 

 flower is all of one colour, and Primula Carniolica, P. hirsuta, P. Ocneiunti. 

 P. villosa, &c., which have bi-coloured flowers, are also of great interest in this con- 

 nection. P. pubescens, the hybrid produced by crossing P. Auricula and P. h irsuta. 



