22 



ON HYBRIDIZATION AMONGST VEGETABLES. 



nine large seeds ; and plants are raised from them. I obtained 

 seed from Ajax Pseudo-narcissus by the same pollen, which also 

 vegetated. I also got, with the greatest facility, seed from the 

 same Narcissus poeticus by Ajax luteus, var. propinquus, and var. 

 maximus, and by all the varieties of moschatus, the pods being 

 large, and the seed abundant ; but I could not fertilize it by the 

 pollen of Q. incomparabilis or odora, though botanically nearer 

 to it in structure. Two pots full of seedlings of N. poeticus by 

 A. albicans and cernuus were unfortunately killed by too early 

 exposure to frost in the winter of 1837, after having been forced. 

 I have since obtained similar crosses frequently, both from the 

 wild pseudo-narcissus of Yorkshire and from the neat little Ajax 

 minor. The result produced Haworth's Q. incomparabilis and 

 aurantia and another form from the same pod, as figured in 

 the Botanical Register ; and afterwards various hybrid varieties 

 with both pale and orange cup, like a single orange-phoenix of 

 the gardens, and the Queltia concolor named by Haworth from 

 a lost plant of Parkinson's, and his Q. alba ; and also, from 

 Ajax minor, varieties of smaller stature. From incomparabilis 

 itself, by the pollen of N. poeticus, was produced a very pleasing 

 new plant, figured as Narcissus SpofForthise in the Botanical Re- 

 gister, which, with a larger and orange cup, had the generic 

 features of a true Narcissus, like poeticus ; and it seemed very 

 evident that another cross by the pollen of poeticus, or at most 

 two, would actually produce a genuine N. poeticus from the de- 

 scendants of Ajax Pseudo-narcissus, and extirpate the female 

 type. I have not had leisure and opportunity to follow up that 

 experiment, the bulb having been planted out, and the Narcissi 

 do not make seed so freely in the border as when forced and 

 kept from strong sunshine. 



The facts above recited are sufficient to establish the point, 

 that the several varieties, single and double, of Q. incomparabilis 

 were raised between N. poeticus and some yellow Ajax, above two 

 hundred years ago, and that more varieties may be obtained by 

 following the processes above stated. I apprehend that the yel- 

 low parent has been A. Pseudo-narcissus, var. nobilis, the Pseudo 

 of Redoute, in which I have perceived a similar unpleasant 

 smell. By the pollen of a cut flower of that N. Spofforthise I 

 obtained twelve very strong seeds from N. montanus, taken up 

 just before it flowered, and potted at the Fulham nursery, placed 

 in my room in Portman Square in 1842, and deprived of its 

 anthers ; the only pod of seed N. montanus is recorded or 

 known, as far as I can hear, to have ever produced. Those seeds 

 were unfortunately mislaid in removing from London, and were 

 never recovered. The pollen of N. montanus, whether it be a 

 natural plant or not, is very fertile. I have flowered seedlings 



