LUTHER BURBANK 



on still wider variation. In other words, the plant 

 that has developed an extra petal or row of petals 

 has in its germ plasm factors that will tend to urge 

 it to the production of still greater modifications 

 of the floral envelope. 



In the case of the balloon-flower, the plant that 

 had developed a second row of petals, when its 

 progeny were carefully scrutinized, was found to 

 have transmitted the anomaly to a certain num- 

 ber, and among the progeny of these there pres- 

 ently appeared one that had a third row of petals. 

 So in the course of comparatively few generations 

 there had been produced a race of balloon-flowers 

 that had trebled the number of petals that hith- 

 erto had been the recognized complement for 

 flowers of this race. 



Multiplication of petals may result, as we have 

 already noticed, from the transformation of sta- 

 mens into petals, or it may come about from the 

 springing into being of new petals de novo, rather 

 than as modifications of any pre-existing part of 

 the flower. The latter appears to be the case with 

 the new rows of petals of the balloon-flower. 



Whether the modification will continue until 

 the balloon flower has a large number of rows of 

 petals, comparable to those of the double roses, 

 for example, remains to be seen. But at the pres- 

 ent stage the flower has a triple corolla, constitut- 



[30] 



