the nature of variation in wild plants can be secured. In some 
cases, the discovery of and preservation of these variations in 
wild plants has resulted in worthy additions to our cultivated 
plants. For example, the red sunflower sold by Peter Henderson 
& Co. and by other seedsmen is the result of finding a red-flowered 
variation of the ordinary yellow sunflower by a roadside in Colo- 
rado. The wife of Professor Cockerell, of the University of 
Colorado, found the original plant and saved seed from it, which 
in a few years, through selection and crossing, gave a strain 
breeding comparatively true to red flowers. In somewhat the 
same way the red-flowered form of the California poppy and the 
Shirley type of poppy were found and introduced into cultiva- 
tion. 
Now many of our wild plants are extremely variable, and 
those interested in collecting plants and making herbariums 
would, I am sure, find it extremely interesting to collect all the 
wild forms of a small group of plants, disregarding whether or 
not such forms are recognized in the manuals. Such a collection 
of dried specimens of the genus Viola , Kalmia, Phlox or any 
other group would be of much assistance in studying variation 
and evolution in the plant world. Such studies and collections 
have been made in a few cases, and the light they have thrown 
on the nature and instability of species is marvellous. 
So when we take our collecting can and go on botanical excur- 
sions, let us keep on the lookout for all sorts of variations. 
Orland E. White. 
