502 



SCIENCE. 



[\.8. Vol.. XVIII. No. 459. 



suited, classical fft foreign terms when liucli 

 simpler and better terms could easily be 

 formed with half the effort, if we could be 

 freed from the shackles of philology and feel 

 free to make meaningless terms without a 

 pedigree ! 



The above sentences are thrown in simply 

 to relieve the writer's feelings. For over two 

 years he has been searching for, and asking 

 friends to suggest, a suitable term to apply 

 to those plants that are propagated vege- 

 tatively by buds, grafts, cuttings, suckers, 

 runners, slips, bulbs, tubers, etc. The plants 

 grovrai from such vegetative parts are not indi- 

 viduals in the ordinary sense, but are simply 

 transplanted parts of the same individual, and 

 in heredity and in all biological and physio- 

 logical senses such plants are the same indi- 

 vidual. The word variety is a generic term 

 which may be used to refer to the races of 

 peas, beans, corn, wheat, etc. ; to the strains 

 of these or other plants; and to natural 

 varieties of scientific botanists as well as to 

 those sorts where parts of the same individual 

 are separated and grown ; but for special refer- 

 ence to the class of plants propagated by rela- 

 tive parts it becomes very necessary to have a 

 particular designation. 



Last year the writer suggested the word 

 strace to use for such varieties and the term 

 was referred to a committee of the Association 

 of Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Sta- 

 tions for consideration. The term strace is 

 a combination of the words ' strain ' and ' race,' 

 already in use. Recently Mr. O. F. Cook, 

 of the Department of Agriculture, has called 

 the writer's attention to the Greek word clon 

 ( kUv ) meaning a twig, spray, or slip, such 

 as is broken off for propagation, which could 

 be used in the connection desired. After care- 

 ful consideration the writer believes this word 

 much better suited to the purpose than the 

 word strace which he previously suggested. 

 The Greek words dados ( K7.a6oc ) and clema 

 ( KTiVf^a ) have practically the same meaning 

 and could be used, but are hardly as suitable. 

 Glados, shortened to clad, becomes a frequently 

 used English term. Clema is one letter longer 

 than clon. All in all, the term clon seems 



well adapted to the purpose, and as such a 

 word is urgently demanded for general use 

 the writer would suggest its general adoption. 

 We have then the generic term variety, in- 

 cluding groups in cultivation known as races, 

 strains and dons. 



( Races, 

 Variety < Strains, 

 L Clons. 



Races in a strict sense are those groups of 

 cultivated plants which have well-marked, dif- 

 ferentiating characters, and which propagat* 

 themselves true to seed except for slight indi- 

 vidual variations. 



Strains are groups of cultivated plants de- 

 rived from races from which they do not differ 

 in visible, taxonomic characters in the ordinary 

 sense, but into which has been bred some in- 

 trinsic quality such as a tendency to yield 

 heavily, or a better adaptability to a certain 

 environment. When, for instance, a breeder, 

 by the careful selection of Blue Stem wheat 

 produces a sort of Blue Stem which differs 

 from the original race only in its ability to 

 give greater yields, it would be called a strain 

 of Blue Stem wheat. If, however, he selects 

 Jones Winter Fife and changes it from a vel- 

 vet chaff to a glabrous chaff, he has produced 

 a new race. It must be admitted that there 

 is no very definite line of demarcation between 

 strains and races. 



Added to the above two divisions of varieties 

 we should now have: 



Clons, which are groups of plants that are 

 propagated by the use of any form of vegeta- 

 tive parts such as bulbs, tubers, cuttings, 

 grafts, buds, etc., and which are simply parts 

 of the same individual seedling. We could 

 then use such expressions as the following : 

 ' The clons of apples, pears, strawberries, etc., 

 are not propagated true to seed, while this is 

 one of the important characters of races of 

 wheat and corn,' and ' The differentiating 

 clonal characters of chrysanthemums are 

 mainly in the form and color of the flowers.' 



Clon, plural clons (pronounced with long o), 

 is a short word, easily pronounced, spelled 

 phonetically and with a derivation which at 

 least suggests its meaning. The writer would 



