ON FLOWER POSSIBILITIES 



flowers while another quality is being bred in. 

 Also to emphasize the point that it is usually well 

 to consider more than a single quality in any 

 breeding experiment. 



At least it is desirable to see that the qualities 

 already present are not lost in the process of 

 gaining new ones. 



Producing New Colors 



I am disposed to think that all shades of all 

 colors that can be produced by blending of the 

 primary colors are within the possible attainment 

 of any flowering plant. 



The obvious fact that certain species, and in 

 some cases whole genera, produce only red flow- 

 ers, others only blue ones or yellow, does not by 

 any means prove that the plants in question have 

 not the capacity to produce flowers of quite differ- 

 ent color. 



We have seen that the colors of wild flowers 

 have been given them by insects. We have noted 

 that the bright colors — ^reds, orange, blues — have 

 been assumed by flowers that flourish in the day- 

 time and seek association with the bees; and that 

 the flowers that consort with night flying insects, 

 such as moths, are almost universally decked in 

 white or pale yellow — hues that make them far 

 more conspicuous in the twilight than the most 

 brilliant scarlet flower would be. 



[29] 



