Чарльз Дарвин
The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication — Volume 1
CHAPTER 1.XI
ON BUD-VARIATION, AND ON CERTAIN ANOMALOUS MODES OF REPRODUCTION AND VARIATION.
BUD-VARIATION IN THE PEACH, PLUM, CHERRY, VINE, GOOSEBERRY, CURRANT, AND BANANA, AS SHOWN BY THE MODIFIED FRUIT. IN FLOWERS: CAMELLIAS, AZALEAS, CHRYSANTHEMUMS, ROSES, ETC. ON THE RUNNING OF THE COLOUR IN CARNATIONS. BUD-VARIATIONS IN LEAVES. VARIATIONS BY SUCKERS, TUBERS, AND BULBS. ON THE BREAKING OF TULIPS. BUD-VARIATIONS GRADUATE INTO CHANGES CONSEQUENT ON CHANGED CONDITIONS OF LIFE. GRAFT-HYBRIDS. ON THE SEGREGATION OF THE PARENTAL CHARACTERS IN SEMINAL HYBRIDS BY BUD- VARIATION. ON THE DIRECT OR IMMEDIATE ACTION OF FOREIGN POLLEN ON THE MOTHER-PLANT. ON THE EFFECTS IN FEMALE ANIMALS OF A PREVIOUS IMPREGNATION ON THE SUBSEQUENT OFFSPRING. CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY.
This chapter will be chiefly devoted to a subject in many respects important, namely, bud-variation. By this term I include all those sudden changes in structure or appearance which occasionally occur in full-grown plants in their flower-buds or leaf-buds. Gardeners call such changes "Sports;" but this, as previously remarked, is an ill-defined expression, as it has often been applied to strongly marked variations in seedling plants. The difference between seminal and bud reproduction is not so great as it at first appears; for each bud is in one sense a new and distinct individual; but such individuals are produced through the formation of various kinds of buds without the aid of any special apparatus, whilst fertile seeds are produced by the concourse of the two sexual elements. The modifications which arise through bud-variation can generally be propagated to any extent by grafting, budding, cuttings, bulbs, etc., and occasionally even by seed. Some few of our most beautiful and useful productions have arisen by bud-variation.
Bud-variations have as yet been observed only in the vegetable kingdom; but it is probable that if compound animals, such as corals, etc., had been subjected to a long course of domestication, they would have varied by buds; for they resemble plants in many respects. For instance, any new or peculiar character presented by a compound animal is propagated by budding, as occurs with differently coloured Hydras, and as Mr. Gosse has shown to be the case with a singular variety of a true coral. Varieties of the Hydra have also been grafted on other varieties, and have retained their character.
I will in the first place give all the cases of bud variations which I have been able to collect, and afterwards show their importance. (11/1. Since the publication of the first edition of this work, I have found that M. Carriere, Chef des Pepinieres au Mus. d'Hist. Nat. in his excellent Essay 'Production et Fixation des Varietes' 1865 has given a list of bud- variations far more extensive than mine; but as these relate chiefly to cases occurring in France I have left my list as it stood, adding a few facts from M. Carriere and others. Any one who wishes to study the subject fully should refer to M. Carriere's Essay.) These cases prove that those authors who, like Pallas, attribute all variability to the crossing either of distinct races, or of distinct individuals belonging to the same race but somewhat different from each other, are in error; as are those authors who attribute all variability to the mere act of sexual union. Nor can we account in all cases for the appearance through bud-variation of new characters by the principle of reversion to long-lost characters. He who wishes to judge how far the conditions of life directly cause each particular variation ought to reflect well on the cases immediately to be given. I will commence with bud-variations, as exhibited in the fruit, and then pass on to flowers, and finally to leaves.
[PEACH (Amygdalus persica).
In the last chapter I gave two cases of a peach-almond and a double- flowered almond which suddenly produced fruit closely resembling true peaches. I have also given many cases of peach-trees producing buds, which, when developed into branches, have yielded nectarines. We have seen that no less than six named and several unnamed varieties of the peach have thus produced several varieties of nectarine. I have shown that it is highly improbable that all these peach-trees, some of which are old varieties, and have been propagated by the million, are hybrids from the peach and nectarine, and that it is opposed to all analogy to attribute the occasional production of nectarines on peach-trees to the direct action of pollen from some neighbouring nectarine-tree. Several of the cases are highly remarkable, because, firstly, the fruit thus produced has sometimes been in part a nectarine and in part a peach; secondly, because nectarines thus suddenly produced have reproduced themselves by seed; and thirdly, because nectarines are produced from peach-trees from seed as well as from buds. The seed of the nectarine, on the other hand, occasionally produces peaches; and we have seen in one instance that a nectarine-tree yielded peaches by bud-variation. As the peach is certainly the oldest or primary variety, the production of peaches from nectarines, either by seeds or buds, may perhaps be considered as a case of reversion. Certain trees have also been described as indifferently bearing peaches or nectarines, and this may be considered as bud-variation carried to an extreme degree.
The grosse mignonne peach at Montreuil produced "from a sporting branch" the grosse mignonne tardive, "a most excellent variety," which ripens its fruit a fortnight later than the parent tree, and is equally good. (11/2. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1854 page 821.) This same peach has likewise produced by bud-variation the early grosse mignonne. Hunt's large tawny nectarine "originated from Hunt's small tawny nectarine, but not through seminal reproduction." (11/3. Lindley 'Guide to Orchard' as quoted in 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1852 page 821. For the Early mignonne peach see 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1864 page 1251.)
PLUMS.
Mr. Knight states that a tree of the yellow magnum bonum plum, forty years old, which had always borne ordinary fruit, produced a branch which yielded red magnum bonums. (11/4. 'Transact. Hort. Soc.' volume 2 page 160.) Mr. Rivers, of Sawbridgeworth, informs me (January 1863) that a single tree out of 400 or 500 trees of the Early Prolific plum, which is a purple kind, descended from an old French variety bearing purple fruit, produced when about ten years old bright yellow plums; these differed in no respect except colour from those on the other trees, but were unlike any other known kind of yellow plum. (11/5. See also 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1863 page 27.)
CHERRY (Prunus cerasus).
Mr. Knight has recorded (ibid) the case of a branch of a May-Duke cherry, which, though certainly never grafted, always produced fruit, ripening later, and more oblong than the fruit on the other branches. Another account has been given of two May-Duke cherry-trees in Scotland, with branches bearing oblong and very fine fruit, which invariably ripened, as in Knight's case, a fortnight later than the other cherries. (11/6. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1852 page 821.) M. Carriere gives (page 37) numerous analogous cases, and one of the same tree bearing three kinds of fruit.
GRAPES (Vitis vinifera).
The black or purple Frontignan in one case produced during two successive years (and no doubt permanently), spurs which bore white Frontignan grapes. In another case, on the same footstalk, the lower berries "were well- coloured black Frontignans; those next the stalk were white, with the exception of one black and one streaked berry;" and altogether there were fifteen black and twelve white berries on the same stalk. In another kind of grape, black and amber-coloured berries were produced in the same cluster. (11/7. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1852 page 629; 1856 page 648; 1864 page 986. Other cases are given by Braun 'Rejuvenescence' in 'Ray Soc. Bot. Mem.' 1853 page 314.) Count Odart describes a variety which often bears on the same stalk small round and large oblong berries; though the shape of the berry is generally a fixed character. (11/8. 'Ampelographie' etc. 1849 page 71.) Here is another striking case given on the excellent authority of M. Carriere (11/9. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1866 page 970.): "a black Hamburg grape (Frankenthal) was cut down, and produced three suckers; one of these was layered, and after a time produced much smaller berries, which always ripened at least a fortnight earlier than the others. Of the remaining two suckers, one produced every year fine grapes, whilst the other, although it set an abundance of fruit, matured only a few, and these of inferior quality."
GOOSEBERRY (Ribes grossularia).
A remarkable case has been described by Dr. Lindley (11/10. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1855 pages 597, 612.) of a bush which bore at the same time no less than four kinds of berries, namely, hairy and red, — smooth, small and red, — green, — and yellow tinged with buff; the two latter kinds had a different flavour from the red berries, and their seeds were coloured red. Three twigs on this bush grew close together; the first bore three yellow berries and one red; the second twig bore four yellow and one red; and the third four red and one yellow. Mr. Laxton also informs me that he has seen a Red Warrington gooseberry bearing both red and yellow fruit on the same branch.
CURRANT (Ribes rubrum).
A bush purchased as the Champagne, which is a variety that bears blush- coloured fruit intermediate between red and white, produced during fourteen years on separate branches and mingled on the same branch, berries of the red, white, and champagne kinds. (11/11. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1842 page 873; 1855 page 646. In the 'Chronicle' page 876 Mr. P. Mackenzie states that the bush still continues to bear the three kinds of fruit, "although they have not been every year alike.) The suspicion naturally arises that this variety may have originated from a cross between a red and white variety, and that the above transformation may be accounted for by reversion to both parent-forms; but from the foregoing complex case of the gooseberry this view is doubtful. In France, a branch of a red-currant bush, about ten years old, produced near the summit five white berries) and lower down, amongst the red berries, one berry half red and half white. (11/12. 'Revue Horticole' quoted in 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1844 page 87.) Alexander Braun (11/13. 'Rejuvenescence in Nature' 'Bot. Memoirs Ray Soc.' 1853 page 314.) also has often seen branches on white currant-trees bearing red berries.
PEAR (Pyrus communis).
Dureau de la Malle states that the flowers on some trees of an ancient variety, the doyenne galeux, were destroyed by frost: other flowers appeared in July, which produced six pears; these exactly resembled in their skin and taste the fruit of a distinct variety, the gros doyenne blanc, but in shape were like the bon-chretien: it was not ascertained whether this new variety could be propagated by budding or grafting. The same author grafted a bon-chretien on a quince, and it produced, besides its proper fruit, an apparently new variety, of a peculiar form with thick and rough skin. (11/14. 'Comptes Rendus' tome 41 1855 page 804. The second case is given on the authority of Gaudichaud ibid tome 34 1852 page 748.)
APPLE (Pyrus malus).
In Canada, a tree of the variety called Pound Sweet, produced (11/15. This case is given in the 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1867 page 403.), between two of its proper fruit, an apple which was well russeted, small in size, different in shape, and with a short peduncle. As no russet apple grew anywhere near, this case apparently cannot be accounted for by the direct action of foreign pollen. M. Carriere (page 38) mentions an analogous instance. I shall hereafter give cases of apple-trees which regularly produce fruit of two kinds, or half-and-half fruit; these trees are generally supposed, and probably with truth, to be of crossed parentage, and that the fruit reverts to both parent-forms.
BANANA (Musa sapientium).
Sir R. Schomburgk states that he saw in St. Domingo a raceme on the Fig Banana which bore towards the base 125 fruits of the proper kind; and these were succeeded, as is usual, higher up the raceme, by barren flowers, and these by 420 fruits, having a widely different appearance, and ripening earlier than the proper fruit. The abnormal fruit closely resembled, except in being smaller, that of the Musa chinensis or cavendishii, which has generally been ranked as a distinct species. (11/16. 'Journal of Proc. Linn. Soc.' volume 2 Botany page 131.)
FLOWERS.
Many cases have been recorded of a whole plant, or single branch, or bud, suddenly producing flowers different from the proper type in colour, form, size, doubleness, or other character. Half the flower, or a smaller segment, sometimes changes colour.
CAMELLIA.
The myrtle-leaved species (C. myrtifolia), and two or three varieties of the common species, have been known to produce hexagonal and imperfectly quadrangular flowers; and the branches producing such flowers have been propagated by grafting. (11/17. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1847 page 207.) The Pompon variety often bears "four distinguishable kinds of flowers, — the pure white and the red-eyed, which appear promiscuously; the brindled pink and the rose-coloured, which may be kept separate with tolerable certainty by grafting from the branches that bear them." A branch, also, on an old tree of the rose-coloured variety has been seen to "revert to the pure white colour, an occurrence less common than the departure from it." (11/18. Herbert 'Amaryllidaceae' 1838 page 369.)
Crataegus oxyacantha.
A dark pink hawthorn has been known to throw out a single tuft of pure white blossoms (11/19. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1843 page 391.); and Mr. A. Clapham, nurseryman, of Bedford, informs me that his father had a deep crimson thorn grafted on a white thorn, which during several years, always bore, high above the graft, bunches of white, pink and deep crimson flowers.
Azalea indica.
A. indica is well known often to produce new varieties by buds. I have myself seen several cases. A plant of Azalea indica variegata has been exhibited bearing a truss of flowers of A. ind. gledstanesii "as true as could possibly be produced, thus evidencing the origin of that fine variety." On another plant of A. ind. variegata a perfect flower of A. ind. lateritia was produced; so that both gledstanesii and lateritia no doubt originally appeared as sporting branches of A. ind. variegata. (11/20. Exhibited at Hort. Soc. London. Report in 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1844 page 337.)
HIBISCUS (Paritium tricuspis).
A seedling of this plant, when some years old, produced, at Saharunpore (11/21. Mr. W. Bell 'Bot. Soc. of Edinburgh' May 1863.), some branches "which bore leaves and flowers widely different from the normal form." "The abnormal leaf is much less divided, and not acuminated. The petals are considerably larger, and quite entire. There is also in the fresh state a conspicuous, large, oblong gland, full of a viscid secretion, on the back of each of the calycine segments." Dr. King, who subsequently had charge of these Gardens, informs me that a tree of Paritium tricuspis (probably the very same plant) growing there, had a branch buried in the ground, apparently by accident; and this branch changed its character wonderfully, growing like a bush, and producing flowers and leaves, resembling in shape those of another species, viz., P. tiliaceum. A small branch springing from this bush near the ground, reverted to the parent-form. Both forms were extensively propagated during several years by cuttings and kept perfectly true.
Althaea rosea.
A double yellow Hollyhock suddenly turned one year into a pure white single kind; subsequently a branch bearing the original double yellow flowers reappeared in the midst of the branches of the single white kind. (11/22. 'Revue Horticole' quoted in 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1845 page 475.)
PELARGONIUM.
These highly cultivated plants seem eminently liable to bud-variation. I will give only a few well-marked cases. Gartner has seen (11/23. 'Bastarderzeugung' 1849 s. 76.) a plant of P. zonale with a branch having white edges, which remained constant for years, and bore flowers of a deeper red than usual. Generally speaking, such branches present little or no difference in their flowers: thus a writer (11/24. 'Journal of Horticulture' 1861 page 336.) pinched off the leading shoot of a seedling P. zonale, and it threw out three branches, which differed in the size and colour of their leaves and stems; but on all three branches "the flowers were identical," except in being largest in the green-stemmed variety, and smallest in that with variegated foliage: these three varieties were subsequently propagated and distributed. Many branches, and some whole plants, of a variety called compactum, which bears orange-scarlet flowers, have been seen to produce pink flowers. (11/25. W.P. Ayres 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1842 page 791.) Hill's Hector, which is a pale red variety, produced a branch with lilac flowers, and some trusses with both red and lilac flowers. This apparently is a case of reversion, for Hill's Hector was a seedling from a lilac variety. (11/26. W.P. Ayres ibid.) Here is a better case of reversion: a variety produced from a complicated cross, after having been propagated for five generations by seed, yielded by bud- variation three very distinct varieties which were undistinguishable from plants, "known to have been at some time ancestors of the plant in question." (11/27. Dr. Maxwell Masters 'Pop. Science Review' July 1872 page 250.) Of all Pelargoniums, Rollisson's Unique seems to be the most sportive; its origin is not positively known, but is believed to be from a cross. Mr. Salter, of Hammersmith, states (11/28. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1861 page 968.) that he has himself known this purple variety to produce the lilac, the rose-crimson or conspicuum, and the red or coccineum varieties; the latter has also produced the rose d'amour; so that altogether four varieties have originated by bud variation from Rollisson's Unique. Mr. Salter remarks that these four varieties "may now be considered as fixed, although they occasionally produce flowers of the original colour. This year coccineum has pushed flowers of three different colours, red, rose, and lilac, upon the same truss, and upon other trusses are flowers half red and half lilac." Besides these four varieties, two other scarlet Uniques are known to exist, both of which occasionally produce lilac flowers identical with Rollisson's Unique (11/29. Ibid 1861 page 945.); but one at least of these did not arise through bud-variation, but is believed to be a seedling from Rollisson's Unique. (11/30. W. Paul 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1861 page 968.) There are, also, in the trade (11/31. Ibid page 945.) two other slightly different varieties, of unknown origin, of Rollisson's Unique: so that altogether we have a curiously complex case of variation both by buds and seeds. (11/32. For other cases of bud-variation in this same variety see 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1861 pages 578, 600, 925. For other distinct cases of bud-variation in the genus Pelargonium see 'Cottage Gardener' 1860 page 194.) Here is a still more complex case: M. Rafarin states that a pale rose-coloured variety produced a branch bearing deep red flowers. "Cuttings were taken from this 'sport,' from which 20 plants were raised, which flowered in 1867, when it was found that scarcely two were alike." Some resembled the parent-form, some resembled the sport, some bore both kinds of flowers; and even some of the petals on the same flower were rose-coloured and others red. (11/33. Dr. Maxwell Masters 'Pop. Science Review' July 1872 page 254.) An English wild plant, the Geranium pratense, when cultivated in a garden, has been seen to produce on the same plant both blue and white, and striped blue and white flowers. (11/34. Rev. W.T. Bree in Loudon's 'Gardener's Mag.' volume 8 1832 page 93.)
CHRYSANTHEMUM.
This plant frequently sports, both by its lateral branches and occasionally by suckers. A seedling raised by Mr. Salter has produced by bud-variation six distinct sorts, five different in colour and one in foliage, all of which are now fixed. (11/35. 'The Chrysanthemum: its History and Culture' by J. Salter 1865 page 41 etc.) A variety called cedo nulli bears small yellow flowers, but habitually produces branches with white flowers; and a specimen was exhibited, which Prof. T. Dyer saw, before the Horticultural Society. The varieties which were first introduced from China were so excessively variable, "that it was extremely difficult to tell which was the original colour of the variety, and which was the sport." The same plant would produce one year only buff-coloured, and next year only rose- coloured flowers; and then would change again, or produce at the same time flowers of both colours. These fluctuating varieties are now all lost, and, when a branch sports into a new variety, it can generally be propagated and kept true; but, as Mr. Salter remarks, "every sport should be thoroughly tested in different soils before it can be really considered as fixed, as many have been known to run back when planted in rich compost; but when sufficient care and time are expended in proving, there will exist little danger of subsequent disappointment." Mr. Salter informs me that with all the varieties the commonest kind of bud-variation is the production of yellow flowers, and, as this is the primordial colour, these cases may be attributed to reversion. Mr. Salter has given me a list of seven differently coloured chrysanthemums, which have all produced branches with yellow flowers; but three of them have also sported into other colours. With any change of colour in the flower, the foliage generally changes in a corresponding manner in lightness or darkness.
Another Compositous plant, namely, Centauria cyanus, when cultivated in a garden, not unfrequently produces on the same root flowers of four different colours, viz., blue, white, dark-purple, and parti-coloured. (11/36. Bree in Loudon's 'Gardener's Mag.' volume 8 1832 page 93.) The flowers of Anthemis also vary on the same plant. (11/37. Bronn 'Geschichte der Natur' b. 2 s. 123.)
ROSES.
Many varieties of the Rose are known or are believed to have originated by bud-variation. (11/38. T. Rivers 'Rose Amateur's Guide' 1837 page 4.) The common double moss-rose was imported into England from Italy about the year 1735. (11/39. Mr. Shailer quoted in 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1848 page 759.) Its origin is unknown, but from analogy it probably arose from the Provence rose (R. centifolia) by bud-variation; for the branches of the common moss- rose have several times been known to produce Provence roses, wholly or partially destitute of moss: I have seen one such instance, and several others have been recorded. (11/40. 'Transact. Hort. Soc.' volume 4 1822 page 137; 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1842 page 422.) Mr. Rivers also informs me that he raised two or three roses of the Provence class from seed of the old single moss-rose (11/41. See also Loudon's 'Arboretum' volume 2 page 780.); and this latter kind was produced in 1807 by bud-variation from the common moss-rose. The white moss-rose was also produced in 1788 by an offset from the common red moss-rose: it was at first pale blush-coloured, but became white by continued budding. On cutting down the shoots which had produced this white moss-rose, two weak shoots were thrown up, and buds from these yielded the beautiful striped moss-rose. The common moss-rose has yielded by bud-variation, besides the old single red moss-rose, the old scarlet semi-double moss-rose, and the sage-leaf moss-rose, which "has a delicate shell-like form, and is of a beautiful blush colour; it is now (1852) nearly extinct." (11/42. All these statements on the origin of the several varieties of the moss-rose are given on the authority of Mr. Shailer, who, together with his father, was concerned in their original propagation. See 'Gard. Chronicle' 1852 page 759.) A white moss-rose has been seen to bear a flower half white and half pink. (11/43. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1845 page 564.) Although several moss-roses have thus certainly arisen by bud-variation, the greater number probably owe their origin to seed of moss-roses. For Mr. Rivers informs me that his seedlings from the old single moss-rose almost always produced moss-roses; and the old single moss-rose was, as we have seen, the product by bud-variation of the double moss-rose originally imported from Italy. That the original moss-rose was the product of bud-variation is probable, from the facts above given and from the de Meaux moss-rose (also a variety of R. centifolia) (11/44. 'Transact. Hort. Soc.' volume 2 page 242.) having appeared as a sporting branch on the common rose de Meaux. Prof. Caspary has carefully described (11/45. 'Shriften der Phys. Oekon. Gesell. zu Konigsberg' February 3, 1865 s. 4. See also Dr. Caspary's paper in 'Transactions of the Hort. Congress of Amsterdam' 1865.) the case of a six-year-old white moss-rose, which sent up several suckers, one of which was thorny, and produced red flowers, destitute of moss, exactly like those of the Provence rose (R. centifolia): another shoot bore both kinds of flowers, and in addition longitudinally striped flowers. As this white moss-rose had been grafted on the Provence rose, Prof. Caspary attributes the above changes to the influence of the stock; but from the facts already given, and from others to be given, bud- variation, with reversion, is probably a sufficient explanation.
Many other instances could be added of roses varying by buds. The white Provence rose apparently originated in this way. (11/46. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1852 page 759.) M. Carriere states (page 36) that he himself knows of five varieties thus produced by the Baronne Prevost. The double and highly-coloured Belladonna rose has produced by suckers both semi- double and almost single white roses (11/47. 'Transact. Hort. Soc.' volume 2 page 242.); whilst suckers from one of these semi-double white roses reverted to perfectly characterised Belladonnas. In St. Domingo, varieties of the China rose propagated by cuttings often revert after a year or two into the old China rose. (11/48. Sir R. Schomburgk 'Proc. Linn. Soc. Bot.' volume 2 page 132.) Many cases have been recorded of roses suddenly becoming striped or changing their character by segments: some plants of the Comtesse de Chabrillant, which is properly rose-coloured, were exhibited in 1862 (11/49. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1862 page 619.), with crimson flakes on a rose ground. I have seen the Beauty of Billiard with a quarter and with half the flower almost white. 'The Austrian bramble (R. lutea) not rarely (11/50. Hopkirk 'Flora Anomala' 167.) produces branches with pure yellow flowers; and Prof. Henslow has seen exactly half the flower of a pure yellow, and I have seen narrow yellow streaks on a single petal, of which the rest was of the usual copper colour.
The following cases are highly remarkable. Mr. Rivers, as I am informed by him, possessed a new French rose with delicate smooth shoots, pale glaucous-green leaves, and semi-double pale flesh-coloured flowers striped with dark red; and on branches thus characterised there suddenly appeared in more than one instance, the famous old rose called the Baronne Prevost, with its stout thorny shoots, and immense, uniformly and richly coloured double flowers; so that in this case the shoots, leaves, and flowers, all at once changed their character by bud-variation. According to M. Verlot (11/51. 'Sur La Production et la Fixation des Varietes' 1865 page 4.), a variety called Rosa cannabifolia, which has peculiarly shaped leaflets, and differs from every member of the family in the leaves being opposite instead of alternate, suddenly appeared on a plant of R. alba in the gardens of the Luxembourg. Lastly, "a running shoot" was observed by Mr. H. Curtis (11/52. 'Journal of Horticulture' March 1865 page 233.) on the old Aimee Vibert Noisette, and he budded it on Celine; thus a climbing Aimee Vibert was first produced and afterwards propagated.
DIANTHUS.
It is quite common with the Sweet William (D. barbatus) to see differently coloured flowers on the same root; and I have observed on the same truss four differently coloured and shaded flowers. Carnations and pinks (D. caryophyllus, etc.) occasionally vary by layers; and some kinds are so little certain in character that they are called by floriculturists "catch- flowers." (11/53. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1843 page 135.) Mr. Dickson has ably discussed the "running" of particoloured or striped carnations, and says it cannot be accounted for by the compost in which they are grown: "layers from the same clean flower would come part of them clean and part foul, even when subjected to precisely the same treatment; and frequently one flower alone appears influenced by the taint, the remainder coming perfectly clean." (11/54. Ibid 1842 page 55.) This running of the parti- coloured flowers apparently is a case of reversion by buds to the original uniform tint of the species.
I will briefly mention some other cases of bud-variation to show how many plants belonging to many orders have varied in their flowers; and many others might be added. I have seen on a snap-dragon (Antirrhinum majus) white, pink, and striped flowers on the same plant, and branches with striped flowers on a red-coloured variety. On a double stock (Matthiola incana) I have seen a branch bearing single flowers; and on a dingy-purple double variety of the wall-flower (Cheiranthus cheiri), a branch which had reverted to the ordinary copper colour. On other branches of the same plant, some flowers were exactly divided across the middle, one half being purple and the other coppery; but some of the smaller petals towards the centre of these same flowers were purple longitudinally streaked with coppery colour, or coppery streaked with purple. A Cyclamen (11/55. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1867 page 235.) has been observed to bear white and pink flowers of two forms, the one resembling the Persicum strain, and the other the Coum strain. Oenothera biennis has been seen (11/56. Gartner 'Bastarderzeugung' s. 305.) bearing flowers of three different colours. The hybrid Gladiolus colvilii occasionally bears uniformly coloured flowers, and one case is recorded (11/57. Mr. D. Beaton in 'Cottage Gardener' 1860 page 250.) of all the flowers on a plant thus changing colour. A Fuchsia has been seen (11/58. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1850 page 536.) bearing two kinds of flowers. Mirabilis jalapa is eminently sportive, sometimes bearing on the same root pure red, yellow, and white flowers, and others striped with various combinations of these three colours. (11/59. Braun 'Ray Soc. Bot. Mem.' 1853 page 315; Hopkirk 'Flora Anomala' page 164; Lecoq 'Geograph. Bot. de l'Europe' tome 3 1854 page 405; and 'De la Fecondation' 1862 page 303.) The plants of the Mirabilis, which bear such extraordinarily variable flowers in most, probably in all, cases, owe their origin, as shown by Prof. Lecoq, to crosses between differently coloured varieties.
