The origin of campanula < norman grove/ 123 



THE ORIGIN OF CAMPANULA ' NORMAN GROVE.' 

 By T. B. Grove, F.R.H.S. 



; About the middle of July 191 1 I chose a plant of Campanula ' White 

 Star ' (fig. 46), which was just showing flower in a 60 pot, and dropped 

 it into the bottom of a larger one, filling round the inside pot with 

 soil so as to retain moisture. 



I took off all but three flowers, which I allowed to grow, and as soon 



t as the unopened flowers were large enough I carefully cut them open 

 and took away the anthers. I then covered them in completely 

 with tissue paper and waited until the flowers expanded, which was 

 about July 20. I fertilized with pollen from C. Tommasiniana (fig. 47) 

 on July 21, 22, and 24, as the flowers were ready. On August 26 

 I found that only one pod had any trace of seed in it, and I sowed a 

 small portion of it on that day. Three seedlings appeared in the pot 

 during September, which I named Z.i, 2, and 3 respectively. Z.i is 

 the ' Norman Grove ' in question (fig. 48) ; Z.2 is a rather paler blue 

 form, very similar to Z.i, but rather larger than that variety, and 

 throws a more bunched spike (sometimes 5 and 6 terminal). Z.3 did 

 not survive the winter of 1911-12. On March 3, 1912, I sowed the 

 remainder of the pod of seed and 16 more seedlings germinated, out 

 of which I have managed to save 10 up to autumn 1914. 



All that have flowered are blue, although differing in depth 

 of colour; some seem to be medium blue, with streaks of darker 



M 



blue running down the blooms ; one has produced a very small 

 flower, not much larger than Wahlenbergia hederacea, but flat in pro- 

 portion to its length, and with the points of petals rather reflexed. 

 Another is very compact and has a pale blue flower, and with 

 flower and colour of foliage reminds one of C. haylodgensis. Several 

 show signs of yellow variegation in the foliage. ' Norman Grove ' 

 is uniform medium blue ; and of compact growth. The foliage shows 

 a decided red tinge in its very earliest stages ; as it develops it 

 becomes green and produces small roundish leaves and growths like 

 a miniature ' White Star.' 



The growth of the whole of the seedlings resembles a miniature form 

 of ' White Star,' some with a red flush, some perfectly green through- 

 out ; one or two have shown signs of a tendency to produce lanceolate 

 foliage (like the male parent) upon the terminals of the autumn 

 shoots. 



I have also seedlings of Z.i and Z.2 which have resulted from 

 re-crossing with pollen from ' White Star,' and also a nice healthy lot 

 of seedlings of Z.i, fertilized with its own pollen, and which show 

 signs of producing decided variations of growth. 



