126 Retrograde Varieties 



opliyllons variety of the strawberry and many 

 other forms will be discussed later. 



To enlarge this list it would only be necessary 

 to extract from a flora, or from a catalogue of 

 horticultural plants, the names of the varieties 

 enumerated therein. In nearly every instance, 

 where true varieties and not elementary species 

 are concerned, a single term expresses the 

 whole character. 



Such a list would also serve to illustrate the 

 second point since the same names would recur 

 frequently. Long lists of varieties are called 

 alha, or inermis, or canescens or lutea, and 

 many genera contain the same appellations. In 

 some instances the systematists use a diversity 

 of names to convey exactly the same idea, as if 

 to conceal the monotony of the character, as 

 for instance in the case of the lack of hairs, 

 which is expressed by the varietal names of 

 Papaver duhium glahrum, Arahis ciliata gla- 

 hrata, Arabis hirsuta glaherrima, Veronica 

 spicata nitens, Amygdalus persica laevis, 

 Paeonia corallina leiocarpa, &c. 



On the contrary we find elementarj^ species in 

 different genera based on the greatest possible 

 diversity of features. The forms of Taraxacum 

 or Helianthemum do not repeat those of Draba 

 or Viola. In roses and brambles the distinguish- 

 ing features are characteristic of the type, as 



