CINCHONA LEDGERIANA A HYBRID. a 
C. Ledgeriana bears fruits like all other ae BES and they 
consider it therefore as a distinct species.” As all other artificial 
and spontaneous Cinchona hybrids ripen ae seeds plentifully, 
the fertility only would be no proof for the establishment of a 
species ; besides, the fertility of C. isi tala is neither existing 
nor confirmed by Dr. Trimen in that m 
- Cinchona Ledgeriana is the only Ciachonn that suffers from 
sterility, and only ripens more fruits, if it gets fertilized and 
hybridized by other Cinchonas; that happens ag and thoes 
the descendants of Ledgeriana are mostly degenerated, and the 
so-called Ledgeriana-bark of Java contains often very little quinine 
(till only 0°8 per cent!). Dr. jee says that ‘the seedlings 
e m 
neighbouring trees, come remarkably true, whereas before that 
was done the sporting was so great that Dr. King would not 
propagate by seed at all.” No Cinchona species hose a similar 
illustration of partly abortive fruits. I may refer to some other 
notes on the fertility of C. Ledgeriana: Ledger wrote to Howard, * 
e discovery of C'. Ledgeriana in Bolivia, “he then told me 
the best bark trees had not produced ripe seeds for four years, 
whereof frost cannot be the pee, for all other Cinchonas there 
around ripened good seeds. In the ‘‘ Berigte nopens de Gouverne- 
ments Kina Onderneming”’ (2. variant 1874, No. 19) we read, 
C. A alsertoncs give few seeds, and deceive us; the best trees were 
flowering to death. In the 8rd Kwartaal, 1875 : from C. Ledgeriana 
only fifty trees ripen epgeaes a few fruits. In the 4th Kwarksal, 
1877: the seeds of C. Ledgeriana have failed. Visiting the Java 
and Mungpo Misteiiie I observed also the poor fertility of C. 
Ledgeriana. 
As all other Cinchona hybrids are always extremely fertile, I 
suppose C. Ledgeriana must be an irregular hybrid; irregular, 
because the several qualities of the two parent species are not well 
combined as in the regular hybrids of Cinchona. For instance, 
inali. rid 
micrantha, whilst C. Ledgeriana is the irregular hybrid of these two 
species. Both hybrids have the broadest part of the leaves at or 
es the middle, because C. Calisaya has leaves with the pede 
rt below the middle, and C. micrantha has leaves with 
aiden part shore the saaditte C. officinalis, which also originated 
spontaneously in Mungpo, shows intermediate flowers and 
with little variability, but C. Ledgeriana possesses the flowers of c. ~ 
agen and the fruits of C. Calisaya, and shows great variability, 
Trimen confirms the great affinity of C. officinalis an 
Ledger ertana by writing that it is indeed not always easy to distinguish 
C. officinalis from C. Ledgerian 
oe re 
