CHRYSANTHEMUM SPORTS. 



547 



countries our more stable sorts will perhaps reward the florists 

 of those countries by sporting with them in return. 



As an illustration of plants other than Chrysanthemums 

 sporting simultaneously in different places, Mr. F. Elsom, of The 

 Nurseries, Canterbury, Melbourne, wrote as follows*: — "I had 

 sent me some seed of Papaver nudicaule in the three colours, 

 imported from Tottenham, and was surprised to see at flowering 

 time that 95 per cent, of the orange-scarlet had changed to 

 yellow, being orange-scarlet only whilst in bud, opening generally 

 a clear yellow, but now and again with orange streaks in them, 

 so that I had to discard this colour altogether in selling them. 

 The whites and yellows were very clear in colour, but very 

 abnormal : about 20 per cent, were semi-double in character, 

 and 5 per cent, as double as a Poppy Anemone. When the last 

 named came single they were as large as the Shirley Poppies in 

 many cases. Another batch, grown thirty miles away, by a 

 nurseryman friend of mine, from Cannell's seed, came exactly 

 similar, so that these changes were undoubtedly due entirely to 

 climate." t 



Similarly, I have been informed that Petunias "doubled" 

 in England, France, and Germany simultaneously ; and that 

 Carnations will " run " in some summers in many places at once. 



Proliferous Sports. — The " flower " of a Chrysanthemum 

 is of course a "head" of flowers, every floret representing a 

 distinct flower. Sometimes in lieu of each floret there is a 

 miniature head, each containing several florets, and surrounded 

 by its own involucre of green bracts. When these are in 

 blossom the result is a considerable increase in size of the 

 u flower " ; and such sometimes form the large heads exhibited 

 at shows. Another form is what is known as " Hen and 

 Chickens " in the Daisy. Besides the usual head in the centre, 

 a number of smaller ones on long pedicels spring out from 

 below the former. This variety is fixed in the Daisy, and 

 probably both the preceding could be made permanent in the 

 Chrysanthemum if they be thought valuable acquisitions. 



Causes of Sporting. — The colours of flowers are due to 

 chemical substances, which are, in the main, undoubtedly organ- 



* Gardeners' 1 Chronicle, March 5, 1892, p. 312. 



t The reader will ccmpare these remarks with those of Mr. Hughes- 

 Gibb quoted above, p. 539. 



