58 



Plant-Breeding 



Other double forms have since been added. The double 

 marigold (Chrysanthemum indicum) came from Japan; 

 double zinnias from Mexico ; and double dahlias which 

 were first produced in Belgium in 1814, are examples. 



The garden anemone (Anemone coronaria) is said to 

 have been first found double in an English nursery in 

 the first half of the last century. . One flower with a single 



broadened stamen was 

 observed by William- 

 son, owner of the nurs- 

 ery. The seed from this 

 was saved separately 

 and planted the next 

 year. After a few gen- 

 erations of selection of 

 this kind, the double 

 flowers appeared as mu- 

 tations and bred true to 

 type (Figs. 13-15). 



The origin of the 

 double petunia dates 

 back to the year 1855, 

 when it suddenly arose from ordinary seed in a garden 

 at Lyons. Carriere reported that from this one plant 

 all double races and varieties of petunias have been 

 derived by natural and partly by artificial crosses, and 

 he added that likewise other species were known at that 

 time to produce new double varieties rapidly. 



Geoffroy St. Hilaire, about 1825, expressed his belief 

 in saltatory variations as a means of evolution. He 

 thought that evolution does not take place entirely by 



FIG. 15. Anemone coronaria, var. flore- 

 pleno. (Full double.) 



