72 LUTHER BURBANK 



grow in regions of the country where the 

 climate is doubtful and the conditions are less 

 favorable than those that prevail in California. 



Somewhat later, the species Watsonia coc- 

 cinea was introduced into the combination. It 

 had smaller and more scattered flowers, long 

 and tubular, and it was of doubtful value, and 

 introduced with trepidation. 



Some of the new hybrid forms presently de- 

 veloped long slender tubes, while the flowers are 

 close to the main stalk. Some have star-shaped 

 flowers with narrow pointed petals, others have 

 wide rounded petals that give the flowers the ap- 

 pearance nearly of single dahlia blossoms. Still 

 others are of a curious intermediate form — three 

 of the petals being rounded, and three star- 

 shaped. 



Flowers of the last named type are quite 

 anomalous. Petals of some of the old Watsonias 

 were star-shaped, and others were rounded, but 

 the combination of the two qualities is unique. 



Among the hybrid seedlings there are some 

 that are only seven or eight inches high, appear- 

 ing with tufts of wide, dark green leaves at a 

 time when others with slender leaves have shot 

 up to a height of eighteen inches or two feet. 



We have seen similar differences among other 

 hybrid plants. They show at once the diversity 



