Gloxinia 



In 1953 Mrs. J. H. Sanborn, Seed Analyst, New Hampshire Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, pollinated the flowers of Gloxinia, Sinninga speciosa 

 Benth. and Hook, with pollen from African Violet, Saintpaulia ionantha 

 Wendl. Repeated attempts to get seed by self-pollinating this particular 

 gloxinia plant had failed. When the gloxinia flowers were pollinated with 

 pollen of the African violet, they set pods and produced seed. This seed 

 when planted produced thirty plants. They gave no evidence of being hy- 

 brids yet were not as vigorous as normal gloxinia plants. When grown to 

 maturity, they produced typical gloxinia flowers of several colors. An ex- 

 amination of the anthers showed that no good pollen was produced by any 

 of the plants. None of them produced any seeds. 



Root tip chromosome counts by R. B. Pike showed them to be haploids. 

 Attempts were made to double the chromosome number by soaking the leaves 

 in colchicine solution without success. 



Lilacs 



James Macfarlane Lilac 



The common lilac, Syringa vulgaris L., is well adapted to New Hamp- 

 shire. In some years, though the plants are fully winter hardy, they either 

 fail to bloom or else produce ragged clusters of flowers because of late 

 spring frosts which injure the blossom buds before they open. Some other 

 species of lilacs bloom rather late, hence escape such damage to the flowers. 

 In our lilac trials, one of the best late-blooming varieties is Royalty which 

 is a variety of the hybrid species Syringa prestonae McKelvev.* Open- 

 pollinated seeds from Royalty have given many desirable plants. One of the 

 best has been named James Macfarlane in memory of the former well- 

 known florist at the University of New Hampshire. 



Lilac 'James Macfarlane' has beautiful bright pink flowers. The florets 

 are single, the clusters large and branching. The variety blooms at an early 

 age, often on one-year-old rooted cuttings. It is particularly valuable as a 

 large shrub in landscape plantings or as a specimen shrub. Some years James 

 Macfarlene has produced a second flush of blossoms in July about a month 

 after the normal season for flowering. Propagation of this variety from two- 

 leaf, softwood cuttings taken when the plants are in full bloom is fully sat- 

 isfactory. 



Nellie Bean Lilac 



Nellie Bean was a sister seedling to James Macfarlane and resembles 

 the latter variety in many respects. Nellie Bean has purple flowers instead 

 of pink. This variety was named in honor of a former leader in the State 

 Federation of Garden Clubs which through its Lilac Foundation Fund sup- 

 ports the lilac research work. Nellie Bean can be propagated readily from 

 softwood cuttings. 



* Royalty is commonly listed as a cultivar in the group 5. josiflexa P. but records 

 of the Dominion Experimental Farm, Morden, Manitoba, Canada, indicate Royalty to 

 be a hybrid of S. villosa x 5. reflexa selected at that station from seeds produced in 1922. 



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