SEED 248 



original parents ? There are many advan- 

 tages, but one obvious one is that the parent 

 possessing a dominant character may also 

 possess another desirable character that the 

 recessive parent has not got, and it is thus 

 possible ultimately to raise a strain possessing 

 not only the recessive character, but also the 

 desirable character of the original dominant 

 parent. 



It has not been possible to classify all plant 

 characters into the two groups of " dominant " 

 and " recessive," but sufficient work has 

 been done to enable us to state with con- 

 fidence that the following characters are 

 dominant : in the case of peas, tallness, 

 round and green seed coat, yellow colour of 

 the material (cotyledons) within the seed coat, 

 and purple colour in the flowers ; whereas 

 the opposite characters, namely, dwarfness, 

 wrinkled seeds, white or yellow seed coat, 

 green cotyledons, and white flowers are 

 recessive. In the case of wheat the absence 

 of awns (beardless), lateness of ripening, and 

 sensitiveness to rust are dominant ; while the 

 presence of awns (bearded), early ripening, and 

 immunity from rust are recessive characters. 



Having indicated circumstances under which 

 it is desirable and may be necessary to 

 change seed, a few words may be added with 



