Febbuabt 24, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



311 



Variegation is a feature of certain alfalfas, 

 which undoubtedly indicates that at some 

 previous time at least one parent has been the 

 yellow-flowered sickle lucern, Medicago fal- 

 cata. The flowers of the pure Medicago sativa 

 retain their original color freffl the time of 

 blooming to the time of withering. The color 

 may range from nearly white to some shade of 

 violet, but the color, whatever it may be, re- 

 mains stable during the period of bloom. The 

 flowers of M. falcata are of a chrome yellow, 

 and remain constant, as do the flowers of M. 

 sativa. The flowers of the hybrids of these 

 two plants show a range of coloration during 

 bloom, before withering, . which, in extreme 

 cases, runs from rich pansy violet through 

 lettuce-green to coppery-yellow. Even in 

 plants having apparently but a small propor- 

 tion of falcata parentage this variegation of 

 color is retained, though in a manner much 

 less pronounced than in the case instanced. 



The alfalfas under experiment which are 

 given below were secured through the United 

 States Department of Agriculture. Many of 

 them were obtained from abroad through the 

 energy of Mr. Charles J. Brand, of that de- 

 partment. 



The number at the left of each strain is the 

 seed and plant introduction number of the 

 Department of Agriculture. The names are 

 the translations of the German common 

 names, or in many instances, the locality 

 whence the seed was obtained is alone given. 

 The total number of plants of each strain 

 and the percentage of variegation are given. 



A supplementary table is given which groups 

 the alfalfa strains according to their geo- 

 graphic origin or to the name borne by them 

 in Europe. 



Summarizing the foregoing table we have 

 the following: 



'At the time of determination of variegation 

 the various rows were indicated by arbitrary 

 numbers. The results were thus not biased by 

 previous knowledge. The variegation was deter- 

 mined by the presence or absence of color change 

 in the standards of the unwithered flowers. This 

 was readily determined in most eases. But in 

 any case, all plants were subjected to a practi- 

 cally uniform judgment. 



No. 



Name and Source 



25110 



25178 



25175 



24667 



25182 

 25267 

 24733 



25184 

 24602 

 25194 



25257 



24923 



25269 

 24603 



24740 

 25022 



24721 

 24767 



25183 



25115 



25091 



24727 

 24741 



24735 

 23394 



24718 

 25193 



24728 

 25111 



24722 

 25268 



25176 



23481 



25167 

 25270 

 24719 

 24717 

 24730 



Num- 

 ber of 

 Plants 



Commercial Sand Lucern (Swit- 

 zerland) 



Commercial Sand Lucern (Bo- 

 hemia) • • 



Old German Franconian alfalfa 



(Bavaria, Germany) 



Old German Franconian alfalfa 



(Bavaria, Germany) 



Eifeler lucern (Rhenish, Prussia) 



German alfalfa (Prussia) 



Old German Franconian alfalfa 



(Baden, Germany) 



Provence alfalfa (Germany) .... 

 Provence alfalfa (Germany) .... 

 Old German Franconian alfalfa 



(Bavaria, Germany) 



Pfalzer lucern (Baden, Ger 



many) 



Old German Franconian alfalfa 

 (Wiirttemberg, Germany) . . . 

 Roumanian alfalfa (Southern) . . 

 Commercial Sand Lucern (Er- 

 furt, Germany) 



Old German Franconian alfalfa 



(Baden, Germany) 



Italian alfalfa (northern Italy) 

 Old German Franconian alfalfa 



(Baden, Germany) 



Provence alfalfa (France) . . 

 Old German Franconian alfalfa 



(Baden, Germany) 



Old German Franconian alfalfa 



(Baden, Germany) 



Commercial Sand Lucern(Brom- 



berg, Prussia) 



Commercial Sand Lucern (Stras- 



burg, Germany) 



German alfalfa (Baden) 



Commercial Sand Lucern (Bo- 

 hemia) 



Italian alfalfa 



Commercial Sand Lucern 



(France) 



Commercial Sand Lucern (Swit- 

 zerland) 



Moravian alfalfa (Bohemia) . . . 

 Old German Franconian alfalfa 



(Baden, Germany) 



German alfalfa (Baden) .... 

 Commercial Sand Lucern (Swit- 

 zerland) 



Provence alfalfa (France) 



Commercial Sand Lucern (Bo- 

 hemia) 



Commercial Sand Lucern (Bo- 

 hemia) 



Commercial Sand Lucern (Ham- 

 burg, Germany) 



German alfalfa (Thuringia) . . 

 Roumanian alfalfa (northern) 

 Hungarian alfalfa (Austria) . 

 Bohemian alfalfa (Austria) . . 

 Russian altalf a(southern Russia) 



