BUD VARIATION IN THE WASHINGTON" NAVEL ORANGE. 27 



MINOR VARIATIONS OF FRUITS. 



In addition to the widely different strains of the Washington Navel 

 orange discovered in these investigations, many other less striking 

 variations have been observed. The full significance and importance 

 of these minor variations are not fully understood as yet, so that no 

 extended discussion of their occurrence will be given at this time. 



Among these variations are those similar to fruit chimeras, an 

 example of which is shown in Plate XVII, figures 1 and 2. In some 

 cases fruits show clearly marked sections of two or more distinct 

 strains. For instance, examples have been found of oranges show- 

 ing unmistakable Washington sections, with the remainder of the 

 fruits showing the Thomson strain; again, a section possesses Golden 

 Nugget characteristics, while the remainder is the Washington 

 strain to all appearances. In a few cases parts of individual fruits 

 have been observed which are unlike any known strains of the variety, 

 an example of which is shown in Plate XVIII. As a rule, however, 

 in the chimeralike forms studied so far, the variable individual fruit 

 sections have been found to resemble some of the important strains 

 previously described. 



In the course of these investigations, many fruits having decidedly 

 abnormal shapes or structures have been observed. For instance, 

 twin oranges or those made up of two almost complete fruits with but 

 a single calyx have been found. Other fruits have been seen which 

 have resembled lemons externally to such an extent that persons 

 not knowing of their occurrence on orange trees have thought them 

 to be lemons. In a few fruits the navel has been found to be devel- 

 oped as a complete secondary orange outside of the primary fruit. 

 Some fruits have been found with a loose rind, like that of the tan- 

 gerine. A number of oranges have been observed without any 

 apparent navel development but otherwise similar to Washington 

 Navel fruits. A long list of similar cases might be cited, but in the 

 light of our present knowledge of this subject they are apparently 

 of little significance or importance to these investigations. Illus- 

 trations of some of these abnormal forms are shown in Plate XIX. 



Some of the trees in the performance-record plats have shown 

 but few or none of these minor fruit variations. Other trees have 

 been prolific in the production of such abnormal fruits and these 

 have not been used as sources of bud wood for propagation except 

 for experimental purposes. 



LESSONS TAUGHT BY THESE INVESTIGATIONS. 



The performance-record data presented in this bulletin constitute 

 but a small part of the records secured in these investigations of the 

 Washington Navel orange. The data shown here have been limited 



