BY THE SELECTION OF SOMATIC VARIATIONS. 



27 



8 plants grown from cuttings of a single plant to exhibit the fluctuation 

 to laciniate leaves. 



It is to be noted that this character of laciniate leaf-shape has not 

 appeared thus far in any of the plants grown in clones 11 and 13. It 

 has appeared as a fluctuating character that develops most strongly in 

 winter. With one exception all the plants grown to test the reappear- 

 ance of the character have exhibited it. This plant was grown from 

 a bud variation giving a single branch of green-red blotched on a plant 

 otherwise uniform for pattern green-yellow-red Notched at the time the 

 cutting was made. 



During the time these plants exhibited the laciniate character most 

 strongly, there were growing among them numerous plants of other 

 clones of various patterns, especially of green-yellow-red blotched and 

 green-red blotched, all submitted to the same conditions of light, tem- 



TABLE 4. Summary of plants with laciniate leaves. 



perature and soil, yet not in the least degree exhibiting the fluctuation 

 to laciniate leaves. This is well shown in plate 4, which gives a photo- 

 graph of 3 plants of the same clone (12), all grown under the same 

 conditions. The plant to the right (No. 125111) had entire leaves 

 and a green-yellow-red blotched pattern; the one to the left (No. 1251412) 

 was of a pure green-red blotched pattern; the one in the middle (No. 

 123153) shows the transition from entire leaves to deeply laciniate 

 leaves as it occurs during the winter. 



The late summer of 1914 was exceedingly dry. In July there had 

 been 5.36 inches of rainfall, during which time the plants made an 

 unusually vigorous growth. From August 12 until October 16 there was 

 but 1.26 inches of rain. During the dry warm period of September, the 



