LUTHER BURBANK 



represents a strain of plants in which there is a 

 curious mingling of hereditary factors for color. 

 It is a fixed variety, at once recognizable, yet the 

 different flowers that resemble each other to the 

 point of approximate identity as to form and 

 botanical features may be scarlet or pink or white 

 or variegated, and all these colors may be repre- 

 sented in the plants grown from a single lot of 

 seed, and sometimes in a single individual flower. 



Even as to the matter of the black center which 

 characterizes the original corn poppy, the Shirley 

 shows a tendency to reversion. Now and again 

 flowers appear that have black spots at the base 

 of the petals. These, however, are rigidly excluded 

 by the florists in selecting seed. 



Other marks of tendency to variation in the 

 Shirley are the uncertain length of the stem, which 

 may be very short or very long, and a propensity 

 to doubling of the petals, which is regarded as a 

 defect. Moreover, there is sometimes manifested 

 a tendency to a crimson hue that is regarded as 

 reversional, and has to be eliminated by the care- 

 ful flower grower. 



PERFECTING THE SHIRLEY POPPY 



All these marks of a tendency to variation, 

 together with a history of the development of the 

 flower, marked the Shirley as a plant suitable for 

 further experimentation. So about twenty years 



[110] 



