ON POPPIES 



selective experiments of precisely the character so 

 often illustrated in the course of our present 

 studies. 



It appears that Mr. Wilks discovered in a field 

 of the corn poppy of the usual scarlet color, a soli- 

 tary flower that had a very narrow edge of white. 

 He marked this flower, saved the seed of it, and 

 the next year carefully watched the seedlings. Out 

 of perhaps two hundred he found four or five on 

 which all the flowers were edged with white. 



The best of these were marked, and their seed- 

 lings were selected from in turn. 



In successive years a large proportion of the 

 flowers gained an increasing proportion of white 

 to tone down the red, until they arrived at a quite 

 pale pink, and finally one plant was found that 

 was pure white. 



The attempt was then made by similar selec- 

 tion to change the black central portion of the 

 flower to yellow or white, and in due course this 

 also was accomplished. 



The new strain being fixed by selection, the 

 Shirley poppy, which has come to be one of the 

 most popular of flowers, was given to the world. 



It appears, then, that the Shirley poppy is a 

 variety that has been specially selected within 

 comparatively recent years, with an eye to the 

 one problem of color modification. It therefore 



[109] 



