ON FLOWER POSSIBILITIES 



original wild plant, were treated in precisely the 

 same way. But it should be recorded that there 

 was great improvement in this second generation. 

 Now three-quarters of the plants showed leaves 

 that were markedly crinkled. Each plant produces 

 thousands of seeds, and progress was relatively 

 rapid, as great numbers could be produced from 

 which to select. 



By process of elimination, the one best plant 

 was again selected and its seed preserved. 



In the next generation, practically all of the 

 plants showed the curiously modified form of leaf. 



In the fourth generation, as before, very large 

 numbers of plants were raised that there might be 

 wide opportunity for selection. Now all the plants 

 presented the crinkled leaves, but there were of 

 course individual specimens that excelled, and 

 these were chosen to the exclusion of the others. 



Their progeny bore uniformly crinkled leaves 

 of the most pronounced type, and they constitute 

 the new species Heuchara cristata as it grows 

 to-day. 



The remarkable crinkled and convoluted 

 leaves are so interesting that they are sometimes 

 preserved by electroplating, to be used as orna- 

 ments. They give the plant a very curious and 

 individual appearance, and present a striking illus- 

 tration of what may be done, by mere inbreeding 



[11] 



