662 Mutations 



bracteatum monopetalum. Henry de Vilmorin 

 had the kindness to send me some of these 

 plants, and they have flowered in my garden 

 during several years. The anomaly is highly 

 variable. Some flowers are quite noi*mal, ex- 

 hibiting no sign of connation; others are wholly 

 gamopetalous, the four petals being united from 

 their base to the very margin of the cup formed ; 

 in consequence of the broadness of the petals 

 however, this cup is so wide as to be very 

 shallow. 



Intermediate states occur, and not infre- 

 quently. Sometimes only two or three petals 

 are united, or the connation does not extend the 

 entire length of the petals. These cases are 

 quite analogous to the imperfect splitting of 

 the corolla of the rhododendron. Giving free 

 rein to our imagination, we may for a moment 

 assume the possibility of a new subdivision of 

 the vegetable kingdom, arising from Vilmorin 's 

 poppy and having gamopetalous flowers for its 

 chief character. If the character became fixed, 

 so as to lose its present state of variability, 

 such a group of suppositious gamopetalous 

 plants might be quite analogous to the corre- 

 sponding real gamopetalous families. Hence 

 there can be no objection to the view, that the 

 heaths have arisen in an analogous manner from 

 their polypetalous ancestors. Other species of 



