1373.] 
AMEBIC AN AGRICULTURIST. 
221 
writing for it, a messenger came from one of 
our considerate seedsmen, bearing the very 
plant. The Lcwisia was discovered on Lewis 
& Clark’s expedition, and was named by Pursh 
in honor of its discoverer. The specific name 
rediviva (that lives again) was given on account 
spa.ti.um,— Lewisia rediviva. 
of its remarkable vitality. The herbarium spe¬ 
cimens brought home by Lewis were planted in 
a garden in Philadelphia, where they grew for 
a year, and some specimens collected by Doug¬ 
las were planted in London, and grew, but 
for a short time only. The engraving shows 
the plant of about the natural size, though the 
root grows much larger than we have repre¬ 
sented it. The narrow, succulent leaves grow 
in clusters, from the center of which the flower- 
stalks arise; these each bear a single rose-colored 
flower, which, like the Portulacas, to which it is 
closely related, remains open only during sun¬ 
shine. The leaves die away soon after the flowers 
open, and the above-ground career of the plant 
occupies but a few weeks. The root,which is large 
for the size of the plant, is interesting as afford¬ 
ing an important article of food to the Oregon 
Indians, who call it “ Spatlum,” or “ Spset’lum.” 
It is also known to the French Canadians as 
Racine amere, or Bitter-root. The root is covered 
with a dark-colored bark, but the interior is white 
and consists largely of starch. The roots are 
boiled and used by the Indians as food, and 
though bitter, are very nutritious. It is said that 
three ounces of the dried roots will be sufficient 
provision for a man undergoing great fatigue. 
We do not know the exact range of the plant. 
Our specimen came from Montana. It has been 
found in Colorado, and is abundant in Oregon. 
The Holly-leaved Cherry. 
While botanizing some years ago upon the 
Pacific coast, we saw what at a little distance 
appeared to be a fine clump ot Holly. A closer 
inspection showed that it was a cherry, with 
leaves so exactly like those of the 
Holly that the name given it by 
Nuttall, Cerasus (now Primus) illici- 
folius, the Holly-leaved Cherry, is 
properly bestowed. The plants 
we met with were directly upon 
the shore of San Diego Bay, and 
were not more than six feet high. 
Farther inland, upon the hill-sides, 
within the mountain range, it be¬ 
comes a small tree of twelve or 
twenty feet in bight. The bark 
is gray and roughish, and the wood 
close-grained, tough, and somewhat 
reddish in color. Tiie engraving 
shows a twig with the leaves and 
flowers of the natural size. The 
leaves are thick, smooth, and ever¬ 
green, like those of the holly, and 
armed with very sharp teeth. The 
flowers, like those of our common 
Wild-cherry, are in racemes, and 
are succeeded by a small fruit, 
which is said to be bitter and as¬ 
tringent. We have another Ever¬ 
green Cherry in the Southern 
States, Prunus Caroliniana, which 
is absurdly enough called “ Wild- 
Orange,” and both belong to the 
same section of the genus as the 
Cherry Laurel of Europe. The 
Holly-leaved Cherry seems to be 
confined to the southern portion 
of California, but would probably 
grow in most portions of that 
State, and would doubtless serve 
f6r ornamental hedges and all 
other uses to which Holly is put. 
We know of no attempts at cul¬ 
tivating it at the East, and we think 
its success here is doubtful. Still, 
we should like to make the experi¬ 
ment, and will do so if some of our 
friends about San Diego or Santa Barbara will 
mail us a few seeds as soon as they are ripe. 
and varied coloring of the variety of to-day. 
But it took many years to produce these, for 
we can well remember in our early gardening 
days there was no white, and the furor that 
took place in the floricultural world when 
Verbena teucroides, the first white, appeared. 
What Varieties Come True from Seed? 
BY PETER HENDERSON. 
An intelligent correspondent from Burlington, 
Vt., asks the question given above. He queries 
still farther, and says: “An apple-seed produces 
an apple-tree, but a Baldwin apple-seed will not 
produce a Baldwin apple-tree. Wheat of any 
variety produces the same; seed of a scarlet 
variety of Verbena will not always produce its 
like. Why this anomaly?” The “why” of 
the matter can not be told, but a few general 
rules may be useful. Seeds of plants found in 
the wild state, in llieir native habitats, almost 
invariably produce a progeny identical with the 
parent, and many species, even after they have 
been subjected to long years of cultivation, 
never appear to change seemingly in the slight¬ 
est degree. Other species under cultivation 
quickly develop varieties entirely different from 
the original, and become what is technically 
termed “ broken.” Thus the original species of 
our well-known Verbena is indigenous to South 
America, having a comparatively small scarlet 
flower. From this, and probably some other 
species hybridized with it, we have the gorgeous 
THE HOLLY-LEAVED CHERRY. 
It was far from being an attractive plant, but 
the color was novel, and single plants were sold 
by the florists of that time at a price that would 
now buy a hundred. The Verbena, then , is one 
genus whose species have given us innumerable 
varieties. The Chrysanthemum, Dahlia, Fuch¬ 
sia, Geranium, Pansy, Petunia, the Rose, and 
many others, are also familiar examples where 
the original species has “ broken ” from what 
may be termed its primary condition into ever- 
changing variety. Thus changed, it is probable 
that their seeds will never produce two indi¬ 
vidual plants exactly alike any more than two 
identical human faces or forms are produced. 
It is probable that all species of animals and 
vegetables, under long years of domestication 
and cultivation,would ultimately “break’-’ from 
the original tj'pe, though we know that in some 
species this tendency sooner develops than in 
others. It is not to be wondered at that ama¬ 
teur horticulturists, like my Vermont friend, are 
puzzled at what looks like inconsistency in na¬ 
ture—why she refuses to produce always again 
his Baldwin apple or his Rareripe peach, his 
Striped Petunia or his Double Carnation, yet 
gives him back seemingly identical with the 
parent his corn or his wheat, his tomato or his 
cabbage, or in flowers his Mignonette or Alys- 
sum. I say seemingly, for it may be doubted if 
they are identical, only that the variation is so 
