248 PLANT-BREEDING 



species, of which a number of types are growing on the hills 

 of California, is a very common shrub in European gardens. 

 It has produced a variety with whitish flowers, which, how- 

 ever, still betray their origin by a pale red hue. From time 

 to time it returns to the parent type in the way of bud- 

 variation, producing branches with dark red flower spikes. If 

 now we compare such a branch with the remainder of the 

 shrub, we find that the difference is not limited to the flowers. 

 Quite on the contrary, it shows itself also in the bracts and 

 even in the stalks of the leaves. The bracts are reddish 

 when the flowers are bright, and almost colorless when the 

 spikes are to become white. At the first opening of the buds 

 the color of the flowers may be predicted by this means for 

 each spike of the variable shrub. 



Before leaving the correlations of organs in regard to their 

 color, I wish to point out another side of the question, which 

 may throw some light on the intimate nature of correlative 

 changes. The anthocyanin dye is assumed to be, in its 

 chemical composition, related to the large group of tannins, 

 of which the common tannic acid is the best known instance. 

 Hence we may suppose the existence of correlations between 

 the color and the taste, or, going one step further, between 

 the color of the flower and the taste of the fruit or seeds, 

 since tannins may give a peculiar, disagreeable, astrin- 

 gent taste, as is well known in the case of many unripe 

 fruits. 



Such associations from time to time occur. As an in- 

 stance I may quote a variety of the Windsor beans (Vicia 

 Faba), newly introduced by the Dutch seed merchant Van 

 Namen, in Holland, from which the black patches on 

 the wings of the flowers are absent. Correspondingly the 

 young seeds, at the period when they are best for canning, 

 are of a paler color and a sweeter taste than the ordinary sort. 

 This sweetness is caused by the absence of the tannin in 



