404 BUD-YARIATION. Chap. XL 



states that a pale rose-oolonred variety pvodnced a branch bearing 

 deep red flowers. " Cuttings were taken from this ' sport,' from 

 " which 20 plants were raised, which flowered in 1867, when it was 

 " found that scarcely two were alike." Some resembled the parent- 

 form, some resembled the sport, some bore both kinds of flowers ; 

 and even some of the petals on the same flower were rose-coloured 

 and others red.^^ An English wild jDlaut, the Geranium pralense, 

 when cultivated in a garden, has been seen to produce on the same 

 plant both blue and white, and striped blue and white flowers.^* 



Cliiysantheinum. — Tiiis plant frequently sports, both by its lateral 

 branches and occasionally by suckers. A seedling raised by 

 Mr. Salter has produced by bud-variation six distinct sorts, five 

 different in colour and one in foliage, all of which are now fixed.^^ 

 A variety called cedo vulH bears small yellow flowers, but habitu- 

 ally produces branches with white flowers ; and a specimen was 

 exhibited, which Prof. T. Dyer saw, before the Horticultural Society. 

 The varieties which were first introduced from China were so 

 excessively variable, " that it was extremely diiiicult to tell which 

 was the original colour of the variety, and which was the sport." 

 The same plant would produce one year only buff-coloured, and 

 next year only rose-coloured flowers; and then would change again, 

 or produce at the same time flowers of both colours. These fluc- 

 tuating varieties are now all lost, and, when a branch sports into a 

 new variety, it can generally be propagated and kept true ; but, as 

 Mr. Salter remarks, " every sport should be thoroughly tested in 

 " difterent soils before it can be really considered as lixfd, as many 

 " have been known to run back when ]>lanted in rich compost ; but 

 " when sufficient care and time are expended in proving, there Avill 

 "^exist little danger of subsequent disapi^ointment." Mr. Salter 

 informs me that with all the varieties tlie commonest kind of bud- 

 variation is the i^roduction of yellow flowers, and, as this is the 

 l^rimordial colour, these cases may be attributed to reversion. 

 Mr. Salter has given me a list of seven differently coloured chrysan- 

 themums, which have all produced branches with yellow flowers ; 

 but three of them have also sported into other colours. With any 

 change of colour in the flower, the foliage generally changes in a 

 corresponding manner in lightness or darkness. 



Another Compositous plant, namely. Cent cmria cy anus, \{\\exi culti- 

 vated in a garden, not unfrequently produces on the same root flowers 

 of four different colours, viz., blue, white, dark-purple, and parti- 

 coloured.^*^ The flowers of Anthemis also vary on the same plant.^'' 



Roses. — Many varieties of the Eose are known or are believed to 



'' Dr. Maxwell Masters, ' Pop. p. 41, &c. 



Science Review,' July, 1872, p. 254. '« Bj-ee, in Loudon's ' Gard. Mag.,' 



3* Rev. W. T. Bree, iu Loudon's vol. viii., 1832, p. 93. 



' Gard. Mag.,' vol. viii., 1832, p. 93. ^7 Bronn, ' Geschichte der Natur,' 



'* 'The Ohrysanthemum : its His- B. ii. s. 123. 

 tory ;;ttd Culture,' by J. Salter, ]cS65, 



