140 



HIIISCUS AFKICANUS. 



Chap. IV. 



plants of the last or fourth generation were as uniform in tint 

 as those of a wild species, being of a pale pink or rose colour. 

 Analogous cases with Mimulus and Ipomcea, after several 

 generations of self-fertilisation, have been already given. The 

 flowers of the intercrossed plants of the fourth generation were 

 likewise nearly uniform in colour. On the other hand, the flowers 

 of the London-crossed plants, or those raised from a cross with 

 the fresh stock which bore dark crimson flowers, varied extremely 

 in colour, as might have been expected, and as is the general 

 rule with seedling carnations. It deserves notice that only two 

 or three of the London-crossed plants produced dark crimson 

 flowers like those of their fathers, and only a very few of a pale 

 pink like those of their mothers. The great majority had their 

 petals longitudinally and variously striped with the two colour's, 

 the groundwork tint being, however, in some cases darker 

 than that of the mother-plants. 



XII. MALVACE2E. Hibiscus africanus. 



Many flowers on this Hibiscus were crossed with pollen from 

 a distinct plant, and many others were self-fertilised. A rather 

 larger proportional number of the crossed than of the self- 

 fertilised flowers yielded capsules, and the crossed capsules con- 

 tained rather more seeds. The self-fertilised seeds were a little 

 heavier than an equal number of the crossed seeds, but they 

 germinated badly, and I raised only four plants of each lot. In 

 three out of the four pots, the crossed plants flowered first. 



Table XLVIII. 



Hibiscus africanus. 



