20 



INHERITANCE. 



Ch ap. XII. 



found wild, produced yellow berries. Vilmorin 51 observed in a bed of 

 Saponaria calabrica an extremely dwarf variety, and raised from it a large 

 number of seedlings ; some of these partially resembled their parent, and 

 he selected their seed ; but the grandchildren were not in the least dwarfed : 

 on the other hand, he observed a stunted and bushy variety of TageUs 

 signata growing in the midst of the common varieties by which it was 

 probably crossed ; for most of the seedlings raised from this plant were 

 intermediate in character, only two perfectly resembling their parent ; but 

 seed saved from these two plants reproduced the new variety so truly, 

 that hardly any selection has since been necessary. 



Flowers transmit their colour truly, or most capriciously. Many an- 

 nuals come true : thus I purchased German seeds of thirty-four named 

 sub-varieties of one race of ten-week stocks (Matthiola annua), and raised 

 a hundred and forty plants, all of which, with the exception of a single 

 plant, came true. In saying this, however, it must be understood that I 

 could distinguish only twenty kinds out of the thirty-four named sub- 

 varieties ; nor did the colour of the flower always correspond with the 

 name affixed to the packet ; but I say that they came true, because in 

 each of the thirty-six short rows every plant was absolutely alike, with the 

 one single exception. Again, I procured packets of German seed of twenty- 

 five named varieties of common and quilled asters, and raised a hundred 

 and twenty-four plants ; of these, all except ten were true in the above 

 limited sense ; and I considered even a wrong shade of colour as false. 



It is a singular circumstance that white varieties generally transmit their 

 colour much more truly than any other variety. This fact probably stands 

 in close relation with one observed by Verlot, 52 namely, that flowers which 

 are normally white rarely vary into any other colour. I have found that 

 the white varieties of Delphinium consolida and of the Stock are the truest. 

 It is, indeed, sufficient to look through a nurseryman's seed-list, to see the 

 large number of white varieties which can be propagated by seed. The 

 several coloured varieties of the sweet-pea (Lathy r us odoratus) are very 

 true ; but I hear from Mr. Masters, of Canterbury, who has particularly 

 attended to this plant, that the white variety is the truest. The hyacinth, 

 when propagated by seed, is extremely inconstant in colour, but " white 

 hyacinths almost always give by seed white-flowered plants ; " 53 and Mr. 

 Masters informs me that the yellow varieties also reproduce their colour, 

 but of different shades. On the other hand, pink and blue varieties, the 

 latter being the natural colour, are not nearly so true : hence, as Mr. Masters 

 has remarked to me, " we see that a garden variety may acquire a more 

 permanent habit than a natural species ; " but it should have been added, 

 that this occurs under cultivation, and therefore under changed conditions. 



With many flowers, especially perennials, nothing can be more fluctuating 

 than the colour of the seedlings, as is notoriously the case with verbenas, 

 carnations, dahlias, cinerarias, and others. 54 I sowed seed of twelve 



51 Verlot, op. cit., p. 38. 



52 Op. cit., p. 



53 Alp. 

 Bot.,' p. 1082. 



59. 



- See 'Cottage Gardener,' April 110, 

 1860, p. 18, and Sept. 10, 1861, p. 45b, 



be' Candolle, ' Geograph. • ' Gard. Chron./ 1845, p. 102. 





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