88 Experiments with Primula sinensis 



palmate ivy-leaves and fern ivy-leaves, the numbers obtained at present 

 being 



Expectation : 



It is clear therefore that we are dealing with two independent 

 characters, namely, (1) the shape of the leaf and (2) the crenation 

 of the margin; and it is the absence of the latter character which is 

 accompanied by the abnormality of the flower structures which is 

 characteristic of the Ivy-leaved variety. 



Considering the character of crenation only, the crosses have given 

 922 crenate, 312 non-crenate {expectation: 925'5 : 308'5). 



Habit. 



The hybrid between the typical P. sinensis and the "stellata" 

 variety is the well-known "pyramidalis" form^ 



The principal characters in which the parent types differ from one another are : 

 Sinensis. Stellata. 



(1) Inflorescence compact. Early elongation of the main axis above 



the primary umbel, with production of 

 secondary and tertiary umbels. 



(2) Shorter pedicels. Long pedicels, 



(3) Calyx cylindrical, with numerous Calyx tube narrowing at the top and 

 teeth ; more or less enclosing the unfolded shorter, so that the corolla protrudes before 

 corolla. beginning to unfold; calyx teeth = the 



number of the petals (5). 



(4) Corolla lobes imbricate, crenate. Corolla lobes scarcely, if at all, over- 



lapping ; heart-shaped. 



The hybrid is intermediate between the two parents; in respect of the characters 

 of the inflorescence it approaches more nearly to the stellata form ; the calyx has 10 — 15 

 teeth ; the degree of crenation of the margins of the petals is somewhat variable, but 

 generally well marked. 



From the study of a plant (No. 54/9, see Plate XXXII, fig. 64) which Messrs Sutton kindly 

 gave me last year, it is clear that a plant, although capable of producing offspring nearly 

 resembling the sinensis type, may itself approach somewhat nearly to the stellata form. 



A series of flowers taken from the plant in question is shown in Plate XXXII, fig. 64, 

 There is some range of variation in the corollas of individual flowers, some of which are 

 scarcely crenate at all ; the plant also resembled the stellata form in its elongated axis 

 and long pedicels. 



The plant, when selfed, gave 21 offspring, of which 2 were true stellata, 12 were 

 clearly intermediate, 7 approached sinensis, but of these seven 3 showed a strong 



1 Bateson, MendeVs Principles of Heredity, Camb. Univ. Press, 1909, pp. 26 and 68. 



