280 Retrograde Varieties 



as the true character of varieties is a new one. 

 Therefore it is necessary to cite a considerable 

 amount of evidence in order to prove the asser- 

 tion that a hybrid bears the active character 

 of its parent-species and not the inactive char- 

 acter of the variety chosen for the cross. 



We may put this assertion in a briefer form, 

 stating that the active character prevails in the 

 hybrid over its dormant antagonist. Or as it 

 is equally often put, the one dominates and the 

 other is recessive. In this terminology the 

 character of the species is dominant in the 

 hybrid while that of the variety is recessive. 

 Hence it follows that in the hybrid the latent or 

 dormant unit is recessive, but it does not follow 

 that these three terms have the same meaning, 

 as we shall see presently. The term recessive 

 only applies to the peculiar state into which the 

 latent character has come in the hybrid by its 

 pairing with the antagonistic active unit. 



In the first place it is of the highest import- 

 ance to consider crosses between varieties of re- 

 corded origin and the species from which they 

 have sprung. When dealing with mutations 

 of celandine we shall see that the laciniated 

 form originated from the common celandine in 

 a garden at Heidelberg about the year 1590. 

 Among my oenotheras one of the eldest of the 

 recent productions is the 0. brevistylis or short- 



