102 ON HYBRIDIZATION AMONGST VEGETABLES. 



any peculiarities entitled to form an exception from the general 

 law imposed upon vegetables. The only things that I know at 

 all analogous are these, that a layer from a striped carnation, 

 that has run to red, continues so ; that a branch of the variable 

 Pompone variety of Camellia Japonica, that has run to red, con- 

 tinues so also ; that branches of the copper-coloured Austrian 

 briar occasionally revert to the usual yellow colour, and the 

 peach and the nectarine have been known to be produced on the 

 same tree from one source ; but in those cases there is no sup- 

 posed diversity of kind, or even of species. The seminal variety 

 in the three former cases merely falls back to the more usual 

 colour ; and in the latter, two different cultivated improvements 

 of the almond manifest themselves in the same plant. What- 

 ever analogy they offer, confirms the view of the original identity 

 of laburnum and Cytisus purpureus. It must be remembered 

 that, if the smallest piece of bark be inserted into a different 

 stock, and lives, whatever bud shall break from its tissue, ex- 

 hibits the qualities of the plant from which that piece of bark 

 was taken, without regard to the juices, root, or bark of the 

 stock. If it proceeds from the stock, it exhibits its qualities ; if 

 exactly from the suture, how can it avoid exhibiting the joint 

 qualities ? 



I know not whether C. laburnum and purpureus can be made 

 to intermix seminally. The very handsome Erythrina Bidwilli, 

 which flowered at Spofforth last August, having been sent to me 

 from Sydney by Mr. Bidwill, and raised in that neighbourhood, 

 either by himself or by Mr. M'Leay, from E. herbacea by 

 pollen of E. cristagalli, is, I believe (unless Wiegman's asserted 

 mules, between vetches and beans, were truly raised), the first 

 well-authenticated hybrid amongst papilionaceous or pea-shaped 

 flowers. Mr. Knight only blended varieties of the pea. The 

 papilionaceous forms are, however, so numerous, and the genera 

 are divided by such inconspicuous differences, that it might be 

 supposed that their intermixture would have been easy and fre- 

 quent. Why they are of rare occurrence I know not, and have 

 not tried to cross them. In this case the union of the two plants 

 is remarkable, because the former produces its spike of flowers 

 directly from the root, the leaf-bearing stems being barren, 

 while the other parent is almost arborescent in a favourable 

 climate, and blossoms from the axils and ends of the leafy 

 branches, in which respect the mule follows it. Wiegman 

 asserted that he had obtained fertile mules between the vetch 

 and the bean, by merely making the plants grow in contact, 

 tying them together, and leaving the operation to the bees. I 

 mentioned formerly that there exists in England an obscure 

 plant, which is a strong handsome pink-flowered prehensile 



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