Five-leaved Clover 357 



the conversion of only a single stamen in the 

 described manner. I observed this anomaly in 

 a poppy called Papaver commutatum, and sub- 

 jected it during several years to a rigid selec- 

 tion of the richest individuals. No ameliora- 

 tion was to be gained and the culture had to be 

 given up. In the same way I found on the bul- 

 bous buttercup (Ranunculus hulbosus) a strain 

 varying largely in the number of the petals, 

 amounting often to Q-S^ and in some flowers 

 even yet to higher figures. During five succeed- 

 ing years I cultivated five generations, often in 

 large numbers, selecting always those which 

 had the highest number of petals, throwing out 

 the remainder and saving the seed only from 

 the very best plants. I got a strain of selected 

 plants with an average number of nine petals 

 in every flower, and found among 4000 flowers 

 four having 20 petals or more, coming up even 

 to 31 in one instance. But such rare instances 

 had no influence whatever on the selection, 

 since thev were not indicative of individual 

 qualities, but occurred quite accidentally on 

 flowers of plants having only the average num- 

 ber of petals. Now double flowers are widely 

 known to occur in other species of the butter- 

 cups, both in the cultivated varieties and in 

 some wild forms. For this reason it might be 

 expected that through a continuous selection of 



