104 BUD-VARIATION. Chap. XL 



states that a pale rose-coloured variety produced a branch bearing 

 deep red flowers. " Cuttings were taken from this ' sport/ from 

 " which 20 piants were raised, which flowered in 1867, when it was 

 " found that scarcely two were alike." Some resembled the parent- 

 form, some resembled the sport, some bore both kinds of flowers ; 

 and even some of the petals on the same flower were rose-coloured 

 and others red. 33 An English wild plant, the Geranium protease, 

 when cultivated in a garden, has been seen to produce on the same 

 plant both blue and white, and striped blue and white flowers. 34 



I ' ysanthemum. — This plant frequently sports, both by its lateral 

 branches and occasionally by suckers. A seedling raised by 

 Mr. Salter has produced by bud* variation six distinct sorts, five 

 different in colour and one in foliage, all of which are now fixed. 35 

 A variety called cedo nulli bears small yellow flowers, but habitu- 

 ally produces branches with white flowers; and a specimen was 

 exhibited, which Prof. T. Dyer saw, before the Horticultural Society. 

 The varieties which were first introduced from China were so 

 excessively variable, " that it was extremely difficult to tell which 

 was the original colour of the variety, and which was the sport." 

 The same plant would produce one year only bufT-coloured, and 

 next year only rose-coloured flowers; and then would change again, 

 or produce at the same time flowers of both colours. These fluc- 

 tuating varieties are now all lost, and, when a branch sports into a 

 new variety, it can generally be propagated and kept true; but, as 

 Mr. Salter remarks, " every sport should be thoroughly tested in 

 '• different soils before it can be really considered as Hxed, as many 

 '•' have been known to run back when planted in rich compost; but 

 " when sufficient care and time are expended in proving, there will 

 " exist little danger of subsequent disappointment." Mr. Salter 

 informs me that with all the varieties the commonest kind of bud- 

 variation is the production of yellow flowers, and, as this is the 

 primordial colour, these cases may be attributed to reversion. 

 Mr. Salter has given me a list of seven differently coloured chrysan- 

 themums, which have all produced branches with yellow flowers; 

 but three of them have also sported into other colours. With any 

 change of colour in the flower, the foliage generally changes in a 

 corresponding manner in lightness or darkness. 



Another Compositous plant, namely, Cerdauria cyan us, when culti- 

 vated in a garden, not unfrequently produces on the same root flowers 

 of four different colours, viz., blue, white, dark-purple, and parti- 

 coloured.^ The flowers of Anthemis also vary on the same plant. 37 



Roses. — Many varieties of the Eose are known or are believed to 



33 Dr. Maxwell Masters. ' Pop. p. 4-1. &c. 

 Science Review/ Julr. 18:2. p. 254-. 3s Bree, in Lou Ion's • Gar 1. Mag., 



3i P.er. W. T. Bree, in Loudon's vol. viii., 1332. p. 93. 

 ' Gard. Mag.,' voL viiu, 1832, p. 93. 3: Br:nn. 'Geschi hte der Xatur, 



35 'The Chrysanthemum: its His- B. ii. s. 123. 

 tory and Culture,' by J. Salter, ]*35, 



