22 



ESTABLISHMENT OF VARIETIES IN COLEUS 



green pattern with yellow blotches designated as green-yellow spotted-red 

 blotched. In the third generation of plants grown from this branch 

 8 plants gradually fluctuated during winter until they were uniformly 

 green-yellow-red blotched. Such an increase of yellow during winter was 

 unusual and cuttings were made to test the constancy of the type thus 

 derived. The data for the 45 plants grown in three generations show 

 that two-thirds of the plants were quite constant for the derived type. 

 This proportion compares very favorably with that of the clones 11, 12, 

 and 3, which were from the start selected from plants most typical for 

 the type. 



TABLE 2. Summary of plants with green-yellow-red blotched pattern. 



*A11 were cases of fluctuation confined to about half of a plant. 



2 Loss of epidermal red on two plants fluctuating from yellow to yellow spotted. 



Of the total number of plants with pattern green-yellow-red blotched 

 there were 218 that were at all times fairly constant and true to the 

 type. They were all somewhat fluctuating in respect to the relative 

 amounts of green and yellow, but were all constant in possessing at all 

 times a yellow border. 



In figure 2 there is shown a leaf with the average development of 

 the yellow border, although in this leaf the pattern is somewhat irregular. 

 Figures 10, 12, 19, 20, and 26 show leaves classed as yellow-bordered; 

 figure 20, however, shows fluctuation toward type yellow-red blotched, and 

 26 shows fluctuation toward a green-yellow spotted-red blotched pattern. 

 Figures 17 and 27 are from leaves classed as having irregular patterns. 



The 77 cases classed as fluctuations include : (1) 56 cases of decided 

 increase of green during winter, followed by increase of yellow in 

 summer, giving in most cases return to the type of the cutting ; two of 

 these also gave fluctuations to laciniate-leaf shape; (2) 9 cases of 

 increase of yellow during summer (grown only during a summer from 

 cuttings taken from plants that were greener during the preceding 

 winter) ; (3) 7 cases of fluctuations that were not uniform on a plant, 

 but gave leaves of the same age with different patterns so mixed that 



