158 Retrograde Varieties 



variety but it is quite as stable as the radiate 

 species. 



The radiate varieties of marigold, quoted in a 

 former lecture, seem to be equally constant, 

 when growing far away from their prototypes. 

 I sowed the seeds of a single plant of the radiate 

 form of Bidens cernua, and found all of the 

 seedlings came true, and in the next year I had 

 from their seed between 2000 and 3000 flower- 

 ing individuals, all equally radiate. Many 

 species of coniposites have been tried, and they 

 are all constant. On the other hand rare sports 

 of this kind have been observed by Murr and 

 other authors. 



Many kinds of vegetables and of fruits give 

 instances of stability. White strawberries, 

 green grapes, white currants, crisped lettuce, 

 crisped parsley and some other crisped forms 

 may be cited. The spinage without prickles is 

 a widely known instance. White-flowered flax 

 never reverts to the blue prototype, if kept pure. 

 Sugar-peas and sugar-corn afford further in- 

 stances. Strawberries without runners have 

 come true from seed ever since their first ap- 

 pearance, over a hundred years ago. 



Many garden-varieties, the stability of which 

 under ordinary circumstances is doubtful, be- 

 cause of their being sown too close to other va- 

 rieties of the same species, have been tested in 



