The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication

-FRUITS-ORNAMENT

ALOGOUS VARIATION-RELATION TO THE ALMOND.-APRICOT.-PLUMS-VARIATION IN THEIR STONES.-CHERRIES-SINGULAR VARIETIES OF.-APPLE.-PEAR.-STRAWBERRY-INTERBLE

ATION IN DEGREE AND KIND-AS

ONAL PECULIARITIES-KIND OF VARIATION.-ROSES-SEVERAL SPECIES C

est in Spain; but as the grape sows itself freely in Southern Europe, and as several of the chief kinds transmit their characters by seed,[618] whilst others are extremely variable, the existence of many different escaped forms could hardly fail to occur in countries where this plant has been cultivated from the remotest antiquity. That the vine varies much when propagated by seed, we may infer from the largely increased number of varieties since the earlier historical records. New hot-house varietie

397) presents a peculiarity by which it can be at once recognised amongst a host of other varieties, namely, that when the fruit is nearly ripe the nerves of the leaves or even the whole surface becomes yellow. The Barbera d'Asti is well marked by several characters (p. 426), amongst others, "by some of the leaves, and it is always the lowest on the branches, suddenly becoming of a dark red colour." Several authors in classifying grapes have founded their main divisions on the berries being either round or oblong; and Odart admits the value of this character; yet there is one variety, the Maccabeo (p. 71), which often produces small round, and large oblong, berries in the same bunch. Certain grapes called Nebbiolo (p. 429) present a constant character, sufficient for their recognition, namely, "the slight adherence of that part of the pulp which surrounds the seeds to the rest of the berry, when cut through transversely." A Rhenish variety is mentioned (p. 228) which likes a dry soil; the fruit ripens well, but at the moment of maturity, if much rain falls, the berries are apt to rot; on the other hand, the fruit of a Swiss variety (p. 243) is valued for well sustaining prolonged humidity. This latter variety s

escribes six kinds cultivated in one valley in France: of these the amourouso produces excellent leaves, but is rapidly being abandoned because it produces much fruit mingled with the leaves: the antofino yields deeply cut leaves of the finest quality, but not in great quantity: the claro is much sought for because the leaves can be easily collected: lastly, the roso bears strong hardy leaves, produced in large qu

tinct species; but as Royle remarks,[624] "so many varieties have been produced by cultivation that it is difficult t

e all varieties of the wild Citrus medica, but that the shaddock (Citrus decumana), which is not known in a wild state, is a distinct species; though its distinctness is doubted by another writer "of great authority on such matters," namely, Dr. Buchanan Hamilton. Alph. De Candolle,[627] on the other hand-and there cannot be a more capable judge-advances what he considers sufficient evidence of the orange (he doubts whether the

hem as distinct species; as he does sweet and bitter almonds, the peach and nectarine, &c. He admits, however, that the soft-shelled pine-tree produces not only soft-shelled but some hard-shelled seedlings, so that a little greater force in the power of inheritance would, according to this rule, raise the soft-shelled pine-tree into the dignity of an aboriginally created species. The positive assertion made by Macfayden[629] that the pips of sweet oranges produce in Jamaica, according to the nature of the soil in which they are sown, either sweet or bitter oranges, is probably an error; for M. Alph. De Candolle informs me that since the publication of his great work he has received accounts from Guiana, the Antilles, and Mauritius, that in these cou

seed of a sweet orange, which grew close to lemons and citrons. But such facts hardly aid us in determining whether to rank these forms as species or varieties; for it is now known that undoubted species of Verbascum, Cistus, Primula, Salix, &c., frequently cross in a state of nature. If indeed it were proved that plants of the orange tribe raised from these crosses were even partially sterile, it would be a strong argument in favour of their

rne on the mother tree had a raised stripe of peel like that of a lemon both in colour and taste, but the pulp was like that of an orange and included only imperfect seeds. The poss

uit of both pure parent-forms, as well as of a mixed or crossed nature. A bud taken from any one of the branches and grafted on another tree produces either one of the pure kinds or a capricious tree repro

leaves spotted with yellow, borne on petioles with heart-shaped wings; when these leaves fall off, they are succeeded by longer and narrower leaves, with undulated margins, of a pale-green colour embroider

the fact of the peach not having spread from Persia at an earlier period, and from its not having pure Sanscrit or Hebrew names, believes that it is not an aboriginal of Western Asia, but came from the terra incognita of China. The supposition, however, that the peach is

ch. 2. Double, crimson-flowered, Chinese Peach. 3. Chinese Honey Peach. 4. English Almond

almond, the stone differs greatly in the degree to which it is compressed, in size, shape, strength, and in the depth of the furrows, as may be seen in the accompanying drawings (Nos. 4 to 8) of such kinds as I have been able to collect. With peach-stones, also (Nos. 1 to 3) the degree of compression and elongation is seen to vary; so that the stone of the Chinese Honey-peach (fig. 3) is much more elongated and compressed than that of the (No. 8) Smyrna almond. Mr. Rivers of Sawbridgeworth, to whom I am indebted for some of the specimens above figured, and who has had such great horticultural experience, has called my attention to several varieties which connect the almond and the peach. In France there is a variety called the Peach-almo

mber of peach-stones imported from the United States, where they are collected for raising stocks, and some of the trees raised by him produced peaches which were very like almonds in appearance, being small and hard, with the pulp not softening till very late in the autumn. Van Mons[642] also states that he once raised from a peach-stone a peach having the aspect of a wild tree, with fruit like that of the almond. From

ther hybrid from a sweet almond by the pollen of a nectarine produced during the first three years imperfect blossoms, but afterwards perfect flowers with an abundance of pollen. If this slight degree of sterility cannot be accounted for by the youth o

and the lemon-clingstone. On the other hand, a clingstone peach has been known to give rise to a freestone.[645] In England it has been noticed that seedlings inherit from their parents flowers of the same size and colour. Some characters, however, contrary to what might have been expected, often are not inherited; such as the presence and form of the glands on the leaves.[646] With respect to nectarines, both cling and freestones are known in North America to reproduce themselves by seed.[647] In England the new white nectarine was a seedling of the old white, and Mr. Rivers[648] has recorded several similar cases. From this strong tendency to inheritance, whi

seed.[652] Mr. Rivers states[653] that from stones of three distinct varieties of the peach he raised three varieties of nectarine; and in one of these cases no nectarine grew near the parent peach-tree. In another instance Mr. Rivers raised a nectarine from a peach, and in the succeeding generation another nectarine from this nectarine.

e called by gardeners), the evidence is superabundant; there is also good evidence of the same tree producing both peaches and necta

nstances. In the same work, the editor, Sir J. E. Smith, describes the more remarkable case of a tree in Norfolk, which usua

f the varieties are named; viz., the Alberge, Belle Chevreuse, and Royal George. This latter tr

ches alone, bore on one branch twelve nectarines; in 1825 the same branch yielded twenty-six nectarines, and in 1826 thirty-six nectarines together w

art nectarine, quite distinct in appearance as well as in flavour." The lines of division were

he has often seen in Virginia very

planted fifteen years previously[661] produced this year a n

roduced, in the midst of its ordinar

e United States a seedling peach which produce

tself truly by seed,[665] bore its own fruit "so remarkable for its promin

e unique case occurred, of a nectarine-tree, raised twenty years before from seed and never g

-variation nectarines (such nectarines reproducing nectarines by seed), as well as fruit in part nectarine and in part peach,-and lastly of one nectarine-tree first bearing half-and-half fruit, and subsequently true peaches. As the peach

d several other unnamed varieties of the peach have once suddenly produced perfect nectarines by bud-variation; and it would be an extremely rash supposition that all these varieties of the peach, which have been cultivated for years in many districts, and which show not a vestige of a mixed parentage, are, nevertheless, hybrids. A second explanation is, that the fruit of the peach has been directly affected by the pollen of the nectarine: although this certainly is possible, it cannot here apply; for we have not a shadow of evidence that a branch which has borne fruit directly affected by foreign pollen is so p

haracteristic differences; and in the leaves being serrated without glands, or crenated and furnished with globose or reniform glands.[669] We can hardly account for this parallelism by supposing that each variety of the nectarine is descended from a correspond

ones or melters being more deeply fissured, with the sides of the fissures smoother than in clingstones. In the various kinds, the flowers differ not only in size, but in the larger flowers the petals are differently shaped, more imbricated, generally red in the centre and pale towards the margin; whereas in the smaller flowers the margins of the petal are usually more darkly coloured. One variety has nearly white flowers. The leaves are more or less serrated, and are either destitute of glands, or have globose or reniform glands;[672] and some few peaches, such as the Brugnon, bear on the same tree both globular and kidney-shaped glands.[673] According to Robertson[674] the trees with glandular leaves are liable to blister, but not in any great degree to mildew; whilst the non-glandular trees are more subject to curl, to mildew, and to the attacks of aphides. The var

bears flowers above 2? inches in diameter, whilst those of the fruit-bearing kinds do not at most exceed 1? inch in diameter. The flowers of the double-flowered peaches have the singular property[679] of frequently producing double or treble fruit. Finally, there is good reaso

appendages at their bases, and sometimes with glands on the petioles. The flowers are generally alike, but are small in the Masculine. The fruit varies much in size, shape, and in having the suture little pronounced or absent; in the skin being smooth, or downy as in the orange-apricot; and in the flesh clinging to the stone, as in the last-mentioned kind, or in readily separating from it, as in the Turkey-apricot. In all these differences we see the closest analogy with the varieties of the peach and nectarine. In the stone we have more important differences, and these in the case of the plum have been esteemed of specific value: in some apricots the stone is almost spherical, in others much flattened, being either sharp in front or blunt

ury."[682] According to Mr. Rivers[683] seedling apricots deviate but little from the character of their race: in France the Alberge is constantly reproduced from seed with but little va

. 1. Bullace Plum. 2. Shropshire Damson. 3. Blue Gage.

ity of the flowers in the peach and of the diversified manner of growth in our various fruit-trees, it is difficult to lay much weight on these latter characters. With respect to the shape of the fruit, we have conclusive evidence that it is extremely variable: Downing[688] gives outlines of the plums of two seedlings, namely, the red and imperial gages, raised from the greengage; and the fruit of both is more elongated than that of the greengage. The latter has a very blunt broad stone, whereas the stone of the imperial gage is "oval and pointed at both ends." These trees also differ in their manner of growth: "the greengage is a very short-jointed, slow-growing tree, of spreading and rather dwarfish habit;" whilst its offspring, the imperial gage, "grows freely and rises rapidly, and has long dark shoots." The famous Washington plum bears a globular fruit, but its offspring, the emerald drop, is nearly as much elongated as the most elongated plum figured by Downing, namely,

d varieties; Downing describes no less than forty, seven of which of first-rate quality have been recently introduced into England.[689] Varieties occasionally arise having an innate adaptation for certain soils, almost as strongly pronounced as with natural species growing on the most distinct geological formations; thus in America the imperial gage, differently from almost all other kinds, "is peculiarly fitted for dry

ropshire with downy shoots, and the other the Kentish with smooth shoots, and these differ but slightly in any other respect: Mr. Rivers sowed some bushels of the Kentish damson, and all the seedlings-had smooth shoots, but in some the fruit was oval, in others round or roundish, and in a few the fruit was small, and, except in being sweet, closely resembled that of the wild sloe. Mr. Rivers gives several other striking

by Mr. Knight from the morello fertilized by pollen of the Elton cherry; for these hybrids produced in all only five cherries, and one alone of these contained a seed.[693] Mr. Thompson[694] has classified the varieties in an apparently natural method in t

everal flower-peduncles arise from a common peduncle, upwards of an inch in length. The fruit of Gascoigne's Heart has its apex produced into a globule or drop: that of the white Hungarian Gean has almost transparent flesh. The Flemish cherry is "a very odd-looking fruit," much flattened at the summit and base, with the latter deeply furrowed, and borne on a stout very short footstalk. In the Kentish cherry the stone adheres so firmly to the footstalk, that it can be drawn out o

inferior quality, is borne on long, very thin footstalks. But the extraordinary statement is made that all the leaf-bearing shoots spring from old flower-buds. Lastly, there is an important phys

n the fruit, between the almost innumerable varieties of the apple. The pips or seeds (as I know by comparison) likewise differ considerably in shape, size, and colour. The fruit is adapted for eating or for cooking in different ways, and keeps for only a few weeks or for nearly two years. Some few kinds have the fruit covered with a powdery secretion, called bloom, like that on plums; and "it is extremely remarkable that this occurs almost exclusively among varieties cultivated in Russia."[700] Another Russian apple, the white Astracan, possesses the singular property of becoming transparent, when ripe, like some sorts of crabs. The api étoilé has five prominent ridges, hence its name; the api noir is nearly black: the twin cluster pippin often bears fruit joined in pai

-buds may be stuck in the ground, and will root and bear a few fruit even during the first year.[705] Mr. Rivers has recently described[706] some seedlings valuable from their roots running near the surface. One of these seedlings was remarkable from its extremely dwarfed size, "forming itself into a bush only a few inches in height." Many varieties are particularly liable to canker in certain soils. But perhaps the strangest constitutional peculiarity is that the Winter Majetin is not attacked by the mealy bug or coccus;

nted by nine other cells.[708] Not being provided with stamens, the tree requires artificial fertilisation; and the girls of St. Valery annually go to "faire ses pommes," each marking her own fruit with a ribbon; and as different pollen is used, the fruit differs, and we here have an inst

the "Sister Ribston Pippin" was a white, semi-transparent, sour-fleshed apple, or rather large crab.[710] Yet it is a mistake to suppose that with most varieties the characters are not to a certain extent inherited. In two lots of seedlings raised from two well-marked kinds, many worthless, crab-like seedlings will appear, but it

believed that they were derived from more than one species, he is now convinced that all belong to one. He has arrived at this conclusion from finding in the several varieties a perfect gradation between the most extreme characters; so perfect is this gradation that he maintains it to be impossible to clas

sub-varieties, had been produced. At the present day the varieties of the several species are almost innumerable. The species consist of, firstly, the wood or Alpine cultivated strawberries, descended from F. vesca, a native of Europe and of North America. There are eight wild European varieties, as ranked by Duchesne, of F. vesca, but several of these are considered species by some botanists. Secondly, the green strawberries, descended from the European F. collina, and little cultivated in England. Thirdly, the Hautbois, from the European F. elatior. Fourthly, the Scarlets, descended from F. Virginiana, a native of the whole breadth of North America. Fifthly, the Chili, descended from F. Chiloensis, an inhabitant of the west coast of the temperate parts both of North and

l, never produced seed, with the exception of a single one, which reproduced the parent hybrid form.[718] Major E. Trevor Clarke informs me that he crossed two members of the Pine class (Myatt's B. Queen and Keen's Seedling), with the wood and hautbois, and that in each case he raised only a single seedling; one of these fruited, but was almost barren. Mr. W. Smith, of York, has raised similar hybrids with equally poor s

confused. We find, indeed, that horticulturists at present disagree under which class to rank some few of the varieties; and a writer in the 'Bon Jardinier' of 1840 remarks that formerly it was possible to class all of them under some one species, but that now this is quite impossible with the Americ

ed (which corresponds with the whole fruit in the plum), with the exception of being more or less deeply embedded in the pulp, is, according to De Jonghe,[723] absolutely the same in all; and this no doubt may be accounted for by the seed being of no value, and consequently not having been subjected to selection. The strawberry is properly three-leaved, but in 1761 Duchesne raised a single-leaved variety of the European wood-strawberry, whic

re is reproduced truly by seed. Another sub-variety, the White Bush Alpine, is similarly characterised, but when propagated by seed it oft

oticed with plants forced in a hot-house. Several English varieties, which in this country are free from any such tendency, when cultivated in rich soils under the climate of North America[730] commonly produce plants with separate sexes. Thus a whole acre of Keen's Seedlings in the United States has been observed to be almost sterile from the absence of male flowers; but the more general rule is, that the male plants overrun the females. Some members

the British Queen at Shrubland Park unless the whole nature of the soil was altered."[731] La Constantina is one of the hardiest kinds, and can withstand Russian winters, but is easily burnt by the sun, so that it will not succeed in certain soils either in England or the United States.[732] The Filbert Pine Strawberry "requires more water than any other variety; and if the plants once suffer from drought, they will do little or no good afterw

t-stocks for our other cultivated plants. The gooseberry is not alluded to by writers of the classical period. Turner mentions it in 1573, and Parkinson, in 1629, specifies eight varieties; the Catalogue of the Horticultural Society for 1842 gives 149 varieties, and the lists of the Lancashire nurserymen are said to include above 300 names.[735] In the 'Gooseberry Grower's Register for 1862' I find that 243 distinct varieties have at various periods won prizes; so that

r bristly condition of its shoots and fruit." The branches of the wild gooseberry, I may remark, are smooth, with the exception of thorns at the bases of the buds. The thorns themselves are either very small, few and single, or very large and triple; they are sometimes reflexed and much dilated at their bases. In the different varieties the fruit varies in abundance, in the period of maturity, in hanging until shrivelled, and greatly in size, "some sorts having their fruit large during a very early period of growth, whilst others are sma

was unusually red. The calyx also differed in the basal part being smooth or woolly, or covered with glandular hairs. It deserves notice, as being contrary to what might have been expected from the law of correlation, that a smooth red gooseberry had a remarkably hairy calyx. The flowers of the Sportsman are furnished with very large coloured bracte?; and this is the most s

w large a scale the culture has been carried on. The fruit of the wild gooseberry is said[740] to weigh about a quarter of an ounce or 5 dwts., that is, 120 grains; about the year 1786 gooseberries were exhibited weighing 10 dwts., so that the weight was then doubled; in 1817 26 dwts. 17 grs. was attained; there was no advance till 1825, when 31 dwts. 16 grs. was reached; in 1830 "Teazer" weighed 32 dwts. 13 grs.; in 1841 "Wonderful" weighed 32 dwts. 16 grs.; in 1844 "London" weighed 35 dwts. 12 grs., and in the following year 36 dwts. 16 grs.; and in 1852 in Staffordshire t

are made, the soil is mulched, and only a few berries are left on each bush;[742] but the increase no doubt is in main part due to the continued selection of seedlings which have been found to be more and more capable of yielding such extraordinary fruit.

he thin-shelled, which is valuable, but suffers from the attacks of tom-tits.[744] The degree to which the kernel fills the shell varies much. In France there is a variety called the Grape or cluster-walnut, in which the nuts grow in "bunches of ten, fifteen, or even twenty together." There is another variety which bears on the same tree differently shaped leaves, like the heterophyllous hornbeam; this tree is also remarkable from having pendulous branches, and bearing elongated, large, thin

e nut from birds, for titmice (Parus) have been observed[749] to pass over filberts, and attack cobs and common nuts growing in the same orchard. In the purple-filbert the husk is purple, and in the frizzled-filbert it is curiously laciniated; in the red-filbert the pellicle of the kernel is red. The shell is thick in some

nguished botanist, M. Naudin,[750] a flood of light has recently been thrown on this group of plants. M. Naudin, during many years, observed and experimented on above 1200 living specimens, collected from all quarters of the world. Six species are now recognised in the genus Cucurbita; but three alone have

t in character, yet others, when grown separately under uniform conditions of life, are, as Naudin repeatedly (pp. 6, 16, 35) urges, "douées d'une stabilité presque comparable à celle des espèces les mieux caractérisées." One variety, l'Orangin (pp. 43, 63), has such prepotency in transmitting its character that when crossed with other varieties a vast majority of the seedlings come true. Naudin, referring (p. 47) to C. pepo, says that its races "ne diffèrent des espèces véritables qu'en ce qu'elles peuvent s'allier les unes aux autres par voie d'hybridité, sans que leur descendance perde la faculté de se perpétuer." If we were to trust to external differences alone, and give up the test of sterility,

oduced is few (p. 45); when of small size, many are produced. No less astonishing (p. 33) is the variation in the shape of the fruit; the typical form apparently is egg-like, but this becomes either drawn out into a cylinder, or shortened into a flat disc. We have also an almost infinite diversity in the colour and state of

by various semi-monstrous organs, or are quite absent. The tendrils are even absent in some running varieties in which the stems are much

s, les corolles, les étamines restent invariables dans chacune d'elles." Yet M. Naudin in describing Cucurbita pepo (p. 30) says, "Ici, d'ailleurs, ce ne sont pas seulement les fruits qui varient, c'est aussi le feuillage et tout le port de la plante. Néanmoins, je crois qu'on la distinguera toujours facilement des deux autres espèces, si l'on veut ne pas perdre de vue les caractères différentiels que je m'

ins as a distinct genus; but Naudin says (p. 20) these parts have no constancy, and in the flowers of the Turban varieties of C. maxima they sometimes resume their ordinary structure. Again, in C. maxima, the carpels (p. 19) which form the Turban project even as much as two-thirds of their length out of the receptacle, and this latter part is thus reduced to a sort of platform; but this remarkable structure occurs only in certain varieties, and graduates into the common form in which the carpels are almost entirely enveloped within the receptacle. In C. moschata the ovarium (p. 50) varies greatly in shape, being oval, nearly spherical

their time." Nor is the creation of so many species at all surprising when we consider how strictly their characters are transmitted by seed, and how wonderfully they differ in appearance: "Mira est quidem foliorum et habitus diversitas, sed multo magis fructuum," says Naudin. The fruit is the valuable part, and this, in accordance with the common rule, is the most modified part. Some melons are only as large as small plums, others weigh as much as sixty-six pounds. One variety has a scarlet fruit! Another is not more than an inch in diameter, but sometimes more than a yard in length, "twisting about in all directions like a serpent." It is a singular fact that in this latter variety many parts of the plant, namely, the stems, the footstalks of the female flowers, the middle lobe of the leaves, and especially the ovarium, as well as the mature fruit, all show a strong tendency to becom

d Ornamen

ed variety.[758] Of hollies no less than eighty-four varieties are grown alongside each other in Mr. Paul's nursery.[759] In the case of trees, all the recorded varieties, as far as I can find out, have been suddenly produced by one single act of variation. The length of time required to raise many generations, and the little value set on the fanciful varieties, explains how it is that successive modification

cies in our hedgerows and woods. But as plants vary so much in a truly wild state, it would be difficult for even a skilful botanist to pronounce whether, as I believe to be the case, hedgerow trees vary more than those growing in a primeval forest. Trees when planted by man in woods or hedges do not grow where they would naturally be able to hold their place against a host of competitors, and are the

famous from its fastigate habit and size, bears hardly any resemblance in general appearance to a common oak; "its acorns are not sure to produce plants of the same habit; some, however, turn out the same as the parent-tree." Another fastigate oak is said to have been found wild in the Pyrenees, and this is a surprising circumstance; it generally comes so true by seed, th

rongly marked, to reproduce themselves by seed.[767] This is to a certain extent the case, according to Bose,[768] with three varieties of the elm, namely, the broad-leafed, lime-leafed, and twisted elm, in which latter the fibres of the wood are twisted. Even with the heterophyllous hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), which bears on each twig leaves of two shapes, "several plants raised from seed all retained the same peculiarity."[769] I will add only one o

most every one as a North American species; but is now ascertained by old records, as I am informed by Dr. Hooker, to be a variety. So again the Thuja pendula or filiformis was ranked by such good observers as Lambert, Wallich, and others as a true species; but it is now k

retains its leaves to a very late period. These differences have been attributed by some authors to the nature of the soil in which the trees grow; but Archbishop Whately grafted an early thorn on a late one, and vice versa, and both grafts kept to their proper periods, which differed by about a fo

r timber, and that they can be propagated truly by seed; thus justifying Loudon's remark, that "a variety is often of as much importance as a species, and sometimes far more so."[775] I may mention one rather important point in which this tree occasionally varies; in the classification of the Conifer?, sections are founded on whether two, three, or five leaves are included in the same sheath; the Scotch fir has properly only two leaves thus enclosed, but specimens have been observed with groups of three leaves in a sheath.[776] Besides these differe

s, is that curious nurserymen select any remarkable variety out of the immense beds of seedlings which are annually raised for making hedges. The flowers of the hawthorn usually include from one to three pistils; but in two varieties, named Monogyna and Sibirica, there is only a single pistil; and d'Asso states that the common thorn in Spain is constantly in this state.[780] There is also a variety which is apetalous, or has its petals reduced to mere rudiments. The famous Glastonbury thorn flowers and leafs towards

ow

y detect some curious structural differences in their crossed and cultivated descendant; and he would certainly observe many new and remarkable constitutional peculiarities. I will give a few instances, all relating to the Pelargonium, and taken chiefly from Mr. Beck,[783] a famous cultivator of this plant: some varieties require more water than others; some are "very impatient of the knife if too greedily used in making cuttings;" some, when potted, scarcely "show a root at the outside of the ball of the earth;" one variety requires a certain amo

g inherited, has been recorded in several instances. In the so-called double flowers of the Composit?, the corollas of the central florets are greatly modified, and the modifications are likewise inherited. In the columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris) some of the stamens are converted into petals having the shape of nectaries, one neatly fitting into the other; but in one variety they are converted into simple petals.[785] In the hose and hose primul?, the calyx becomes brightly coloured and enlarged so as to resemble a corolla; and Mr. W. Wooler informs me that this peculiarity is transmitted; for he crossed a common polyanthus with one having a coloured calyx,[786] and some of the seedlings inherited the coloured calyx during at least six generations. In th

importance of this modification under a classificatory point of view, I may quote what Prof. Harvey says, namely, that had it "occurred in a state of nature, and had a botanist collected a plant with such flowers, he would not only have placed it in a distinct genus from Begonia, but would probably have considered it as the type of a new natural order." This modification cannot in one sense be considered as a monstro

his whole bed had not presented a uniform appearance. Florists have attended in some instances to the leaves of their plant, and have thus produced the most elegant and symmetrical patterns of white, red, and green, which, as in the case of the pelargonium, are sometimes strictly inherited.[790] Any one who will habitually examine highly-cultiv

ham only five species. The hybrids from some of the most distinct forms-for instance, from R. Indica, fertilised by the pollen of R. centifolia-produce an abundance of seed; I state this on the authority of Mr. Rivers,[791] from whose work I have drawn most of the following statements. As almost all the aboriginal forms brought from different countries have been crossed and recrossed, it is no wonder that Targioni-Tozzetti, in speaking of the common roses of the Italian gardens,

Whenever a new rose appears with any peculiar character, however produced, if it yields seed, Mr. Rivers (p. 4) fully expects it to become the parent-type of a new family. The tendency to vary is so strong in some kinds, as in the Village Maid (Rivers, p. 16), that when grown in differ

will do well under a north one. That is the case with Paul Joseph here. It grows strongly and blooms beautifully close to a north wall. For three years seven plants have done nothing under a south wall." Many roses can be forced, "many are totally unfit for forcing, among which is General Jacqueminot."[794] From the effects of crossing and variatio

red; seedlings from this flower were semi-double, and by continued selection, in about nine or ten years, eight sub-varieties were raised. In the course of less than twenty years these double Scotch roses had so much increased in number and kind, that twenty-six well-marked varieties, classed in eight

From these circumstances this plant seemed to me worth studying, more especially from the great contrast between the small, dull, elongated, irregular flowers of the wild pansy, and the beautiful, flat, symmetrical, circular, velvet-like flowers, more than two inches in diameter, magnificently and variously coloured, which are exhibited at our shows. But when I came to inquire more closely, I found that, though the varieties were so modern, yet that much confusion and doubt prevailed about their parentage. Florists believe that the varieties[798] are descended from several wild stocks, namely, V. tricolor, lutea, grandiflora, am?na, and Altaica, more or less intercrossed. And when I looked to botanical works to ascertain whether these forms ought to be ranked as species, I found equal doubt and confusion. Viola Altaica seems to be a distinct form, but what part it has played in the origin of our varieties I know not; it is s

comparing the choicest varieties with the nearest allied wild forms, besides the difference in the size, outline, and colour of the flowers, the leaves are seen sometimes to differ in shape, as does the calyx occasionally in the length and breadth of the sepals. The differences in the form of the nectary more especially deserve notice; because characters derived from this organ have been much used in the discrimination of most of the species of Viola. In a large number of flowers compared in 1842 I found that in the greater number the nectary was straight; in others the extremity was a little turned upwards, or downwards, or inwards, so as to be completely hooked; in others, instead of being hooked, it was first turned rectangularly downwards, and then backwards and upwards; in others the extremity was considerably enlarged; and lastly, in some the basal part

and ranunculus-like races,[804] which differ in the form and arrangement of the florets, have arisen; also dwarfed races, one of which is only eighteen inches in height. The seeds vary much in size. The petals are uniformly coloured or tipped or striped, and present an almost infinite diversity of tints. Seedlings of fourteen different colours[805] have been raised from the same plant; yet, as Mr. Sabine has remarked, "many of the seedlings follow their parents in colour." The period of flowering has been considerably hastened, and this has probably been e

he size, form, and colour of the flowers. These and some other anciently cultivated plants which have been long propagated by offsets, pipings, bulbs, &c., become so excessively variable, t

enumerates four, and Parkinson, in 1629, eight varieties. Now the varieties are very numerous, and they were still more numerous a century ago. Mr. Paul remarks that "it is interesting to compare the Hyacinths of 1629 with those of 1864, and to mark the improvement. Two hundred and thirty-five years have elapsed since then, and this simple flower serves well to illustrate the great fact that the original forms of nature do not remain fixed and stationary, at least when brought under cultivati

ct species of the same genus. Although the several kinds of hyacinths differ but slightly from each other except in colour, yet each kind has its own individual character, which can be recognised by a highly educated eye; thus the writer of the Amsterdam treatise asserts (p. 43) that some experienced florists, such as the famous G. Voorholm, seldom failed in a collection of above twelve hundred sorts to recognise each variety by the bulb alone! This same writer mentions some few singular variations: for instance, the hyacinth commonly produces six leaves, but there is one kind (p. 35) which scarcely ever has more than three leaves; another never more than five; whilst

been passed over; for botanists are not agreed which kinds ought to rank as species and which as varieties; and the wild parent-species are unknown.[812] Many plants long cultivated in tropical countries, such as the Banana, have produced numerous varieties; but as these have never been desc