Chap. XI. FLOWERS. 331 



have been recorded of roses suddenly becoming striped or changing 

 their character by segments : some plants of the Comtesse de Chabrillant, 

 which is properly rose-coloured, were exhibited in 1862, 46 with crimson 

 flakes on a rose ground. I have seen the Beauty of Billiard with a quarter 

 and with half the flower almost white. The Austrian bramble (B. lutea) 

 not rarely 47 produces branches with pure yellow flowers- and Prof. 

 Henslow has seen exactly half the flower of a pure yellow, and I have 

 seen narrow yellow streaks on a single petal, of which the rest was of the 

 usual copper colour. 



The following cases are highly remarkable. Mr. Eivers, as I am informed 

 by him, possessed a new French rose with delicate smooth shoots, pale 

 glaucous-green leaves, and semi-double pale flesh-coloured flowers striped 

 with dark red ; and on branches thus characterised there suddenly ap- 

 peared, in more than one instance, the famous old rose called the Baronne 

 Prevost, with its stout thorny shoots, and immense, uniformly and richly 

 coloured, double flowers; so that in this case the shoots, leaves, and 

 flowers, all at once changed their character by bud-variation. According 

 to M. Verlot 48 a variety called Rosa cannabifolia, which has peculiarly 

 shaped leaflets, and differs from every member of the family in the leaves 

 being opposite instead of alternate, suddenly appeared on a plant of R. 

 alba in the gardens of the Luxembourg. Lastly, " a running shoot " was 

 observed by Mr. H. Curtis 49 on the old Aimee Vibert Noisette, and he 

 budded it on Celine ; thus a climbing Aimee Vibert was first produced 

 and afterwards propagated. 



Bianthus. — It is quite common with the Sweet William (B. barbatus) to 

 see differently coloured flowers on the same root ; and I have observed on 

 the same truss four differently coloured and shaded flowers. Carnations and 

 pinks (B. caryophyllus, &c.) occasionally vary by layers; and some kinds are 

 so little certain in character that they are called by floriculturists " catch- 

 flowers." 50 Mr. Dickson has ably discussed the " running " of particoloured 

 or striped carnations, and says it cannot be accounted for by the compost 

 in which they are grown : " layers from the same clean flower would come 

 " part of them clean and part foul, even when subjected to precisely the 

 " same treatment ; and frequently one flower alone appears influenced by 

 " the taint, the remainder coming perfectly clean." 51 This running of the 

 particoloured flowers apparently is a case of reversion by buds to the 

 original uniform tint of the species. 



I will briefly mention some other cases of bud- variation to show how 

 many plants belonging to many orders have varied in their flowers ; 

 numerous cases might be added. I have seen on a snap-dragon {Antirr- 

 hinum majus) white, pink, and striped flowers on the same plant, and 

 branches with striped flowers on a red-coloured variety. On a double 

 stock (Matthiola incana) I have seen a branch bearing single flowers ; and 



46 ' Gard. Chron.,' 1862, p. 619. 49 'Journal of Horticulture,' March, 



47 Hopkirk's ' Flora Anomala,' p. 167. 1865, p. 233. 



48 ' Sur la Production et la Fixation 50 « Gard. Chron.,' 1843, p. 135. 

 des Varietes,' 1865, p. 4. si Ibidj 1842; p. 55. 



