16 ESTABLISHMENT OF VARIETIES IN COLEUS 



during the winter of 1911-12 a single branch bearing leaves with the 

 red completely covering both surfaces. This color pattern designated 

 as green-yelloiv-solid red is shown in figure 8. All the leaves on the 

 branch were uniform for this pattern and were in most conspicuous 

 contrast to the rest of the plant. From this plant a number of pedi- 

 greed cuttings were also made. 



METHOD OF HANDLING CULTURES. 



The first generation of plants (series 111, 121, 131, 141) was grown 

 in a greenhouse during the winter of 1911-12. In April 1912, cuttings 

 (series 1111, 1211, etc.) were made from these. During the summer all 

 of the plants, both old and young, were grown out of doors in beds. 

 In the autumn cuttings were again made. The plants developed 

 from cuttings taken in the autumn were under observation for a year, 

 7 months of which they were grown under greenhouse conditions. 

 Cuttings taken in spring were grown only out of doors. This method 

 of handling gave opportunity to observe development and behavior 

 under different conditions and to compare old plants with j^ounger 

 ones. Except for a few plants that were subjected to special condi- 

 tions, all the plants of any generation were treated uniformly with 

 respect to kind of soil, size of pots, and conditions of temperature 

 and illumination. The plants were cut back somewhat to prevent 

 early blossoming and to maintain a vigorous vegetative condition. 



In the period of three years between September 1911 and September 

 1914, a total of 833 plants were grown to maturity and discarded. All 

 of these descended through vegetative propagation from plants Nos. 1 

 and 3, both of which had originally the green-yellow-red blotched pattern 

 illustrated by figure 2. 



GENERAL SURVEY OF THE VARIATIONS. 



Variations in the color patterns of the plants both of the original 

 and the derived types can be classed as fluctuating variations and as 

 bud variations. In the former the changes were usually quite gradual 

 and affected in most cases an entire plant. The changes which are 

 in this paper included in the term ''bud variations" were those affecting 

 only a part of a plant and usually appearing as a sudden and conspicu- 

 ous change. In addition to the variations in color patterns, there 

 appeared, in several subclones, plants which fluctuated in leaf-shape, 

 giving in extreme cases leaves deeply cut and laciniate. The variations 

 that appeared were as follows: (A) changes involving yellow and 

 green; (B) changes involving the epidermal red, and (C) changes involv- 

 ing leaf-shape. The bud variations can be grouped as in table 1 with 

 data regarding the number of plants concerned and the number of 

 times the different changes appeared as a bud variation. 



