268 LUTHER BURBANK 



Flower and Bulb Improved Simultaneously 



Meantime pains had been taken to cross 

 dark flowers with dark flowers, and white 

 ones with white, and pink with pink, wher- 

 ever possible, so as to intensify the various 

 types. 



As already noted, there is a pronounced tend- 

 ency to variation even among the wild species, 

 all the camassias sometimes producing pale 

 greenish, almost white, flowers. These, if grown 

 from seed and carefully selected, can be changed 

 to snowy white. Some of the variations secured 

 bear flowers that are truly white, while others that 

 are called white are really of a pale greenish hue. 

 The seedlings of these greenish white ones tend 

 ordinarily to produce blossoms that revert to the 

 pale blue color of the species from which they 

 were derived. 



So the production of a truly white camassia 

 required continued selection — a process of grad- 

 ual intensification. 



But of course hybridizing greatly facilitated 

 this process. It also gave opportunity for selec- 

 tion with regard to flowers having broad petals — 

 narrowness of petal being one of the original de- 

 fects of the camassia as a flower. Moreover, a 

 number of extra petals have been added in some 



