32 ESTABLISHMENT OF VARIETIES IN COLEUS 



In several instances cuttings were so made that the resulting plants 

 possessed two patterns. These plants are included here in respect to 

 the behavior of the part with pattern yellow-green-red blotched. 



All of the plants grown during the winter showed more or less 

 increase of green, but as long as the yellow was present as a definite 

 central area they were classed as constant. There were, for example, 

 just such differences in development of yellow as is seen in figures 

 14 and 14a, the former representing the usual condition during winter 

 and the latter the development of yellow during the summer. Four 

 plants fluctuated in marked degree, giving mixed and irregular patterns 

 with many leaves in which there was much green. 



One case of bud variation was concerned with loss of epidermal 

 red, giving the type yellow-green (fig. 14). The other instances gave 

 3 cases of extreme development of yellow, 10 cases of entire loss of 

 yellow, and 1 case of change to the yellow spotted condition. The 

 latter, however, occurred on a plant with also a bud variation to pure 

 green-red blotched. The ratio of frequency for bud variation in this 

 group was about 1 to 540. 



Plants with pattern green-yelloiv-solid red. — In respect to the green 

 and yellow this pattern (fig. 8) is identical with that of green-yellow- 

 red blotched. It differs in having a solid-red instead of a red-blotched 

 epidermis. The 54 plants grown with this pattern remained free from 

 any noticeable variations in respect to the solid red epidermis, except 

 those that were bud variations. Frequently a leaf appeared with a 

 few small areas in which the red of the epidermis was absent, but these 

 were rather isolated. There was some degree of fluctuation in the 

 relative amounts of green and yellow, with a tendency for plants to be 

 greener in winter and yellower in summer. On account of the soUd red, 

 it was more difficult to judge these fluctuations than in plants with 

 red blotched or with non-red epidermis, hence attention was chiefly 

 directed to the condition of the epidermis. In making cuttings, plants 

 most constant and typical for the green-yellow condition were, however, 

 selected. 



Of the 10 cases of bud variation, 4 gave complete loss of yellow, 

 2 gave a reversal of the relative position of green and yellow, and 1 

 gave extreme development of yellow. Only 3 cases involved variation 

 in the amount and distribution of red; 1 was a complete loss and 2 gave 

 the pattern described above as green-yellow-solid red upper center, 

 a type which is an interesting intermediate between no red and solid red. 

 The ratio of frequency for all bud variations for the group is 1 to 1,080. 



Plants with green-solid red pattern. — This pattern (fig. 9) first ap- 

 peared during the summer of 1913 as a bud variation on a plant of 

 pattern green-red blotched. From this branch cuttings were taken for 

 6 plants grown during the summer of 1914. All of these remained con- 

 stant for loss of yellow and for a solid-red epidermis, except 1 plant. 



