EVERLASTING FLOWERS 203 



capsules, five or six times as large as the ordi- 

 nary seed capsule of either parent species. Yet 

 in other plants the seed capsule would be smaller 

 than that of either parent. In still other cases 

 twin capsules are produced uniformly, and with 

 a certain number there was produced a mere 

 rudiment of a capsule. But the most striking 

 of all were the numerous plants that produced 

 not even an intimation of a capsule, the flower- 

 ing stem ending abruptly like the end of a lead 

 pencil. 



All in all the hybrids showing this extraordi- 

 nary variation in the seed-bearing capsule — 

 ranging from enormous enlargement of the cap- 

 sule to its entire obliteration — make a very 

 wonderful and interesting study in heredity. 



It is of further interest to note that, although 

 these hybrids were raised from seed of an annual 

 poppy (hybridized, however, by a perennial), 

 yet without exception every member of the 

 entire company of thirty thousand is a 

 perennial. 



The flowers themselves vary greatly in size, 

 some of them being seven or even eight inches 

 in diameter, while the smallest are perhaps only 

 four or five inches. Some are beautifully 

 crimped, others have flat petals, there being the 

 most striking variations in form. 



