ELEMENTARY BOTANY. 
XXXV 
Herbs eaten down by sheep or cattle, or crushed underfoot, or otherwise checked 
in their growth, or trees or shrubs cut down to the ground, if then exposed to 
favourable circumstances of soil and climate, will send up luxuriant side-shoots, 
often so different in the form of their leaves, in their ramification and inflorescence, 
as to be scarcely recognisable for the same species. 
Annuals which have germinated in spring, and flowered without check, will often 
be very different in aspect from individuals of the same species, which, having ger- 
minated later, are stopped by summer droughts or the approach of winter, and 
only flower the following season upon a second growth. The latter have often 
been mistaken for perennials. 
Hybrids, or crosses between two distinct species, come under the same category 
of anomalous specimens from a known cause. Frequent as they are in gardens, 
where they are artificially produced, they are probably rare in nature, although on 
this subject there is much diversity of opinion, some believing them to be very 
frequent, others almost denying their existence. Absolute proof of the origin of a 
plant found wild, is of course impossible ; but it is pretty generally agreed that the 
following particulars must always co-exist in a wild hybrid. It partakes of the cha- 
racters of its two parents ; it is to be found isolated, or almost isolated, in places where 
the two parents are abundant ; if there are two or three, they will generally be dis- 
similar from each other, one partaking more of one parent, another of the other ; it 
seldom ripens good seed ; it will never be found where one of the parents grows alone. 
Where two supposed species grow together, intermixed with numerous inter- 
mediates bearing good seed, and passing more or less gradually from the one to the 
other, it may generally be concluded that the whole are mere varieties of one species. 
The beginner, however, must be very cautious not to set down a specimen as inter- 
mediate between two species, because it appears to be so in some, even the most 
striking characters, such as stature and foliage. Extreme varieties of one species 
are connected together by transitions in all their characters, but these transitions are 
not all observable in the same specimens. The observation of a single intermediate 
is therefore of little value, unless it be one link in a long series of intermediate forms, 
and, when met with, should lead to the search for the other connecting links. 
(2) Accidental aberrations from the ordinary type , that is, those of which the cause is 
unknown. 
These require the more attention, as they may sometimes lead the beginner far 
astray in his search for the genus, whilst the aberrations above mentioned, as 
reducible more or less to general laws, affect chiefly the distinction of species. 
Almost all species with coloured flowers are liable to occur occasionally with 
them all white. 
Many may be found even in a wild state with double flowers, that is, with a 
multiplication of petals. 
Plants which have usually conspicuous petals will occasionally appear without 
any at all, either to the flowers produced at particular seasons, or to all the flowers 
of individual plants, or the petals may be reduced to narrow slips. 
Flowers usually very irregular, may, on certain individuals, lose more or less of 
their irregularity, or appear in some very different shape. Spurs, for instance, may 
disappear, or be produced on all instead of one only of the petals. 
One part may be occasionally added to, or subtracted from, the usual number of 
parts in each floral whorl, more especially in regular polypetalous flowers. 
Plants usually monoecious or dioecious may become occasionally hermaphrodite, 
or hermaphrodite plants may produce occasionally unisexual flowers by the abortion 
of the stamens or of the pistils. 
Leaves cut or divided where they are usually entire, variegated or spotted where 
they are usually of one colour, or the reverse, must also be classed amongst those 
accidental aberrations which the botanist must always be on his guard against mis- 
taking for specific distinctions. 
