THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXXVII. 



are yellow, and the ray flowers are white, violet, or purple. In 

 Aster the rays are white, pink, purple, or blue, and the disk 

 flowers are yellow turning to red-purple or brown. In the 

 China asters (Callistephus) there is a great variety of colors, 

 and a single head is often tricolored, as a yellow center sur- 

 rounded by an inner white ring and an outer ring of purple. 

 The ray flowers of this genus may display almost every imagina- 

 ble shade of color, and individual flowers may change from white 

 to rosy red or lilac. But in Helianthus and in part of the spe- 

 cies of Coreopsis both ray and disk flowers are golden yellow. 

 The original color of the genera, which was usually yellow, is 

 preserved by the central or disk flowers. The rays may vary 

 from yellow to white, red. purple or blue, and an innumerable 

 number of intermediate shades. Under cultivation Chrysanthe- 

 mum saunsc has yielded a multitude of magnificent flowers. 

 The ray flowers have increased in number until they compose 

 the entire head, and there is scarce a tint or shade save blue that 

 is not known. The original colors were a pale yellow, a white 

 and a very weak violet shade, and from these have been raised all 

 the colors and shades now seen in this flower. " This has been 

 accomplished by a very slow and persistent selection and cross- 

 fertilization. It is worthy of notice how intensified the yellows 

 have become, and how many shades of this color there now 

 are. The lilac has become pink of pure shading ; then, as to 

 red, cullingfordii often presents us with a pure tone of red. The 

 most pronounced purple we have to-day is from the lighth tipped, 

 incurved Princess of Wales, being a sport named Violet Tomlin. 

 It is really purple. Now we cannot get purple without blue, 

 and to those who are at work in this field of development, a 

 blue chrysanthemum would not be such a great surprise." 1 



Throughout the Composite the corolla has remained of small 

 size, and there is no reason to suppose it has ever been greatly 

 modified in form. The primitive colors have also been very 

 largely retained, for out of 483 northern species 209 are yellow 

 and 126 white. Fifty of our genera contain yellow flowers, 

 and some large genera consist wholly of flowers of this color, 



