LUTIIER BURBANK 



list of edible fruits. It was produced as a fixed 

 new species in the first generation, through hy- 

 bridizing two forms of nightshade; one of them 

 from Africa, the other a weed-like plant indige- 

 nous to America or long ago introduced from 

 Europe. The hybrid is in a good many ways in- 

 termediate between the parent forms, but it dif- 

 fers from either of them in that its berries are 

 edible. 



Some confusion has arisen through the change 

 of name, unauthorized by Mr. Burbank, which 

 led to the placing of this fruit on the market as 

 the "Wonderberry," and through the confusion 

 of the new fruit with other species of nightshade 

 to which it is only distantly related. The night- 

 shade family, it should be explained, has poison- 

 ous members, and so is of ill repute. But it should 

 not be forgotten that among the wholesome repre- 

 sentatives of the family are the familiar garden 

 vegetables, the potato, the tomato, and the egg- 

 plant. 



From the standpoint of the plant developer, 

 perhaps the chiefest interest associated with the 

 sunberry hinges on the fact that the hybridization 

 through which it was created was accomplished 

 only after many years of unsuccessful effort. In- 

 deed, Mr. Burbank had attempted to cross-fertilize 

 the parent forms, quite without success, for some- 

 thing like twenty-five years, before he at last suc- 

 ceeded in fertilizing a single flower and producing 

 a single berry from which the new race was de- 

 veloped. 



[102] 



