20 



ON HYBRIDIZATION AMONGST VEGETABLES. 



perished entirely ; while the progress of the pod impregnated by 

 the mule made vigorous and rapid progress to maturity, and 

 bore good seed, which vegetated freely. The impregnation by 

 the cross-bred pollen was therefore slower in taking effect, but 

 had the same decided superiority over the pollen of the natural 

 species as over that of any other cross-bred variety. The anthers 

 had been taken out of the flowers before their expansion. This 

 is a strange truth, and the more remarkable from the difficulty 

 of obtaining cross-bred seed at all in the genera which are most 

 nearly related to Hippeastrum, namely, Habranthus and Zephyr- 

 anthes. Where no access from the dust of another individual is 

 admitted, the hybrid Hippeastrum Johnsoni is capable, as I have 

 stated, of reproducing itself by seed. A bulb of Solandrifloro- 

 Johnsoni, of which all the flowers were set by their own pollen, 

 produced seed vigorously from all of them. 



My experiments among the Narcissean bulbs have produced 

 still more singular results, which have been partly detailed in 

 the Botanical Register. It will be recollected that in examining 

 the various genera which had been carved out of Narcissus by 

 Mr. Salisbury and Mr. Haworth, I discarded some of the sepa- 

 rations as inconsistent, or founded upon trivial features ; and that 

 I retained, as distinct from each other, Corbularia, with declined 

 assurgent filaments ; Hermione, with very small oval anthers, 

 almost sessile, and incumbent on decurrent filaments, with short 

 incurved points ; and Ajax, with very long linear erect anthers 

 and stout filaments, in great part free. These plants, viz., the 

 hoop-petticoat, the daffodil, and the Polyanthus narcissus, are 

 separated by features which, as far as my research extends, I can 

 find united in no other genus of plants. With much greater 

 hesitation I assented to the division of Hermione and Ganymedes 

 from Narcissus, in which the differences, though of a like nature, 

 are far less marked. There was still another separation of 

 Queltia, of which there were two divisions, one with larger 

 anthers coming nearer to Ajax, and one with smaller anthers in- 

 cluding the jonquil. In the progress of my investigation I 

 found that no person could furnish me with the seed of any 

 Queltia of the class with larger anthers; and, although wild 

 localities are attributed to several of them, it did not appear 

 that they had been observed to increase there or elsewhere by 

 seed. On looking back two hundred years, to the time of 

 Clusius, it appeared that he could not point out the place of 

 their growth, but had received some expressly from a garden. 

 A strong doubt had suggested itself to my mind whether these 

 anomalous species were not garden hybrids produced above two 

 hundred years ago, and admitted as natural species by botanists 

 who did not suspect their origin. On the other hand, no plants 



