ON FOUR DOORYARD FLOWERS 



and none of the familiar forms breed true from 

 the seed. 



The ancestors of the cultivated verbena were 

 South American plants, and it is believed that 

 there are four chief species that have been vari- 

 ously hybridized to produce all the forms now 

 under cultivation. One of these bears flowers of 

 brilliant red, two others have flowers that are rosy 

 or purple in color, and the flowers of the fourth 

 are pure white. 



The hybridized races show the breaking up of 

 these colors, quite as might be expected, with the 

 presentation of all the primary colors in many of 

 their hues and gradations, although pure blues are 

 not well represented, and pure yellow is very 

 exceptional. 



But the point of greatest interest in the present 

 connection is the fact that the white species of 

 wild verbena, which is acknowledged to be one of 

 the forms, whose strains have been blended with 

 the others to produce the cultivated verbena, has 

 what is described as a rich jessamine fragrance. 



The hybridizing experiments that ultimately 

 gave us the perfected verbena were carried out 

 less than a century ago, but in the meantime the 

 strains have been so mixed and blended that it 

 would be impossible for the most part to trace the 

 characteristics of any given form of cultivated ver- 



[113] 



