LUTHER BURBANK 



years the colony has attained the proportion sug- 

 gested by what has already been said about the 

 elimination of bulbs by the cord. 



Needless to say there is great variety among 

 these complex crossbred flowers. All of them 

 retain the essential characteristics of bulb and 

 stalk and manner of growth of the Watsonias. But 

 in their size of flower, and in various important 

 characteristics, they show departure from either 

 of the parent forms. 



Perhaps the most striking individual develop- 

 ment is that of a pure white form of Watsonia that 

 has double flowers. This double Watsonia is an 

 unusual flower. The doubling has been brought 

 about, not by the transformation of stamens, as 

 in the case of a double rose or dahlia, but by grow- 

 ing a new circle of petals outside the old ones. 

 This form of doubling, to be sure, is not altogether 

 anomalous. It occasionally takes place in the 

 case of the rose and the carnation, and I have 

 known it to occur with the apple blossom. But it 

 is not very common. 



It is sometimes spoken of as supernumerary 

 doubling, to distinguish it from the usual type in 

 which each new petal takes the place of a stamen. 



In addition to the double white Watsonia, the 

 crossbred colony has presented single white ones 

 that have much larger and more open blossoms 



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