of 

 in 



to 



I 



ed. 



) 



lid 



T 



d 



i 



Ch. XXXVI.] CHANGES PEODUCED IN CULTIVATED PLANTS. 299 



have undergone any marked modification from the type of 



tlie original plant. 



A bitter plant {Brassica oleracea)^ with wavy green sea 

 leaves^ having a flower like mnstard or wild charlock, has been 

 taken from the sea-side, and transplanted into the garden, 

 where it has lost its saltness, and has been metamorphosed 

 into many distinct vegetables, among others the red cabbage 

 and the canliflower, which are as unlike each other as is 

 each to the parent plant. In certain countries plants belong- 

 ing to the order of Cruciferse which are generally herbaceous 

 become develoi3ed into trees, so the cabbage in the island of 

 Jersey has acquired a woody stem not unfrequently from ten 

 to twelve feet in height. The stalk of one which measured 

 sixteen feet in height had its spring shoots at the top occu- 

 pied by a magpie's nest. The wood of the same variety 



is sometimes used for walking sticks, and even for rafters. 

 These effects result from particular culture and peculiarities 

 of climate. What is worthy of note, says Darwin, is the very 

 trifling difference in the flowers, seed-pods, and seeds of the 

 cabbage which accompanies the wonderful metamorphosis 

 which man has brought about in the shape, size, colour, and 

 growth of the leaves and stem. What a contrast is here 

 23resented to the changes in the corresponding parts in the 

 varieties of maize and wheat. ' The explanation is obvious : 

 the seeds alone are valued in our cei^eals, and their variations 

 have been selected ; whereas the seeds, seed-pods, and floAvers 



in the cabbage, whilst many 



have been utterly neglected 



useful variations in their leaves and stems have been noticed 

 and preserved from an extremely remote period, for cabbages 

 were cultivated by the old Celts. '"^ 



Among the changes in external conditions of which florists 

 avail themselves in order to produce new varieties those of 



the soil must not be overlooked. 



The production of blue 



. % 



instead of red flowers in the Hydrangea hortensis^ illustrates 

 the immediate effect of certain soils on the colours of the 

 calyx and petals. In garden-mould or compost, the flowers 

 are invariably red; in some kinds of bog-earth they are 



* Darwin 'On Variation/ vol. i. p. 324. 



