Origin of Wild Species 58 



Q 



ical, instead of fiat and purse-shaped. Their 

 valves were thick and fleshy, while those of the 

 ordinary form are membranaceous and dry. 

 The capsules hardly opened and therefore dif- 

 fered in this point from the shepherd's purse, 

 which readily loosens both its valves as soon as 

 it is ripe. 



Only one plant was observed ; whence it came 

 could not be determined, nor whether it had 

 arisen from the neighboring stock of Capsella 

 or not. The discoverer took some seed to his 

 garden and sent some to the botanical garden 

 at Strassburg, of which Solms-Laubach is the 

 director. The majority of the seeds of course 

 were sowed naturally on the original spot. The 

 following year some of the seeds germinated 

 and repeated the novelty. The leaves, stems and 

 flowers were those of the common shepherd's 

 purse, but no decision could be reached concern- 

 ing the type of this generation before the first 

 flowers had faded and the rounded capsules had 

 developed. Then it was seen that the heegeri 

 came true from seed. It did so both in the 

 gardens and on the market-place, where it was 

 observed to have multiplied and spread in some 

 small measure. The same was noted the fol- 

 lowing year, but then the place was covered with 

 gravel and all the plants destroyed. It is not 

 recorded to have been seen wild since. 



