LUTHER BURBANK 



"There are two common species growing there 

 together. One of them has large showy flowers, 

 the other small and inconspicuous ones. The 

 botanist calls the large flowered species Madia 

 elegans, and the other M. saliva. The two species 

 do not look much alike, and some botanists even 

 classify them in different genera. 



"If you look at all closely you will see that 

 there is a third form of plant, bearing some 

 resemblance to each of them, growing among the 

 others, and I can assure you that this is a natural 

 hybrid between the two. 



"If you examine this hybrid, you will find that 

 its branches are less spreading than those of its 

 large-flowered parent, although not upright like 

 those of the other parent; and that the stem is 

 stouter than that of either parent. As to foliage, 

 the hybrid plants have larger and thicker leaves 

 than those of the large flowered tarweed, more 

 closely resembling the other species in this 

 respect, but the ray-flowers are intermediate in 

 size and shape as well as color, the reddish- 

 brown that characterizes the flower of the more 

 conspicuous parent being reduced in the hybrid 

 to a spot just in the top of the tube. 



"So here you are probably witnessing the 

 creation of a new species in nature. You, of 

 course, are an evolutionist and therefore are 



[32] 



