an account by Prof. Decaisne, and by others in 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1862
page 335 and 1858 page 172; and Mr. Barnet's paper in 'Hort. Soc.
Transact.' volume 6 1826 page 170.) of the extent to which the American
forms spontaneously cross. We owe indeed to such crosses most of our
choicest existing varieties. Knight did not succeed in crossing the
European wood-strawberry with the American Scarlet or with the Hautbois.
Mr. Williams of Pitmaston, however, succeeded; but the hybrid offspring
from the Hautbois, though fruiting well, never produced seed, with the
exception of a single one, which reproduced the parent hybrid form.
(10/104. 'Transact. Hort. Soc.' volume 5 1824 page 294.) Major R. 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
success. (10/105. 'Journal of Horticulture' December 30, 1862 page 779. See
also Mr. Prince to the same effect ibid 1863 page 418.) We thus see
(10/106. For additional evidence see 'Journal of Horticulture' December 9,
1862 page 721.) that the European and American species can with some
difficulty be crossed; but it is improbable that hybrids sufficiently
fertile to be worth cultivation will ever be thus produced. This fact is
surprising, as these forms structurally are not widely distinct, and are
sometimes connected in the districts where they grow wild, as I hear from
Professor Asa Gray, by puzzling intermediate forms.
The energetic culture of the Strawberry is of recent date, and the
cultivated varieties can in most cases be classed under some one of the
above native stocks. As the American strawberries cross so freely and
spontaneously, we can hardly doubt that they will ultimately become
inextricably 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 American forms, the new English varieties having
completely filled up the gaps between them. (10/107. 'Le Fraisier' par le
Comte L. de Lambertye pages 221, 230.) The blending together of two or more
aboriginal forms, which there is every reason to believe has occurred with
some of our anciently cultivated productions, we see now actually occurring
with our strawberries.
The cultivated species offer some variations worth notice. The Black
Prince, a seedling from Keen's Imperial (this latter being a seedling of a
very white strawberry, the white Carolina), is remarkable from "its
peculiar dark and polished surface, and from presenting an appearance
entirely unlike that of any other kind." (10/108. 'Transact. Hort. Soc.'
volume 6 page 200.) Although the fruit in the different varieties differs
so greatly in form, size, colour, and quality, the so-called seed (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
(10/109. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1858 page 173.) 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, which Linnaeus doubtfully raised to the
rank of a species. Seedlings of this variety, like those of most varieties
not fixed by long-continued selection, often revert to the ordinary form,
or present intermediate states. (10/110. Godron 'De l'Espece' tome 1 page
161.) A variety raised by Mr. Myatt (10/111. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1851
page 440.), apparently belonging to one of the American forms presents a
variation of an opposite nature, for it has five leaves; Godron and
Lambertye also mention a five-leaved variety of F. collina.
The Red Bush Alpine strawberry (one of the F. vesca section) does not
produce stolons or runners, and this remarkable deviation of structure is
reproduced truly by seed. Another sub-variety, the White Bush Alpine, is
similarly characterised, but when propagated by seed it often degenerates
and produces plants with runners. (10/112. F. Gloede in 'Gardener's
Chronicle' 1862 page 1053.) A strawberry of the American Pine section is
also said to make but few runners. (10/113. Downing 'Fruits' page 532.)
Much has been written on the sexes of strawberries; the true Hautbois
properly bears the male and female organs on separate plants (10/114.
Barnet in 'Hort. Transact.' volume 6 page 210.), and was consequently named
by Duchesne dioica; but it frequently produces hermaphrodites; and Lindley
(10/115. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1847 page 539.), by propagating such plants
by runners, at the same time destroying the males, soon raised a self-
prolific stock. The other species often showed a tendency towards an
imperfect separation of the sexes, as I have noticed 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 (10/116. For the several statements with respect to the American
strawberries see Downing 'Fruits' page 524; 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1843
page 188; 1847 page 539; 1861 page 717.) 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 of the Cincinnati Horticultural Society, especially appointed
to investigate this subject, report that "few varieties have the flowers
perfect in both sexual organs," etc. The most successful cultivators in
Ohio plant for every seven rows of "pistillata," or female plants, one row
of hermaphrodites, which afford pollen for both kinds; but the
hermaphrodites, owing to their expenditure in the production of pollen,
bear less fruit than the female plants.
The varieties differ in constitution. Some of our best English kinds, such
as Keen's Seedlings, are too tender for certain parts of North America,
where other English and many American varieties succeed perfectly. That
splendid fruit, the British Queen, can be cultivated but in few places
either in England or France: but this apparently depends more on the nature
of the soil than on the climate; a famous gardener says that "no mortal
could grow the British Queen at Shrubland Park unless the whole nature of
the soil was altered." (10/117. Mr. D. Beaton in 'Cottage Gardener' 1860
page 86. See also 'Cottage Gardener' 1855 page 88 and many other
authorities. For the Continent see F. Gloede in 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1862
page 1053.) La Constantine is one of the hardiest kinds, and can withstand
Russian winters, but it is easily burnt by the sun, so that it will not
succeed in certain soils either in England or the United States. (10/118.
Rev. W.F. Radclyffe in 'Journal of Hort.' March 14, 1865 page 207.) 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
afterwards." (10/119. Mr. H. Doubleday in 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1862 page
1101.) Cuthill's Black Prince Strawberry evinces a singular tendency to
mildew; no less than six cases have been recorded of this variety suffering
severely, whilst other varieties growing close by, and treated in exactly
the same manner, were not at all infested by this fungus. (10/120.
'Gardener's Chronicle' 1854 page 254.) The time of maturity differs much in
the different varieties: some belonging to the wood or alpine section
produce a succession of crops throughout the summer.
GOOSEBERRY (Ribes grossularia).
No one, I believe, has hitherto doubted that all the cultivated kinds are
sprung from the wild plant bearing this name, which is common in Central
and Northern Europe; therefore it will be desirable briefly to specify all
the points, though not very important, which have varied. If it be admitted
that these differences are due to culture, authors perhaps will not be so
ready to assume the existence of a large number of unknown wild parent-
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
specifies eight varieties in 1629; 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. (10/121. Loudon's
'Encyclop. of Gardening' page 930; and Alph. De Candolle 'Geograph. Bot.'
page 910.) In the 'Gooseberry Grower's Register' for 1862 I find that 243
distinct varieties have won prizes at various periods, so that a vast
number must have been exhibited. No doubt the difference between many of
the varieties is very small; but Mr. Thompson in classifying the fruit for
the Horticultural Society found less confusion in the nomenclature of the
gooseberry than of any other fruit, and he attributes this "to the great
interest which the prize-growers have taken in detecting sorts with wrong
names," and this shows that all the kinds, numerous as they are, can be
recognised with certainty.
The bushes differ in their manner of growth, being erect, or spreading, or
pendulous. The periods of leafing and flowering differ both absolutely and
relatively to each other; thus the Whitesmith produces early flowers, which
from not being protected by the foliage, as it is believed, continually
fail to produce fruit. (10/122. Loudon's 'Gardener's Magazine' volume 4
1828 page 112.) The leaves vary in size, tint, and in depth of lobes; they
are smooth, downy, or hairy on the upper surface. The branches are more or
less downy or spinose; "the Hedgehog has probably derived its name from the
singular 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 small, until nearly ripe." The fruit
varies also much in colour, being red, yellow, green, and white--the pulp
of one dark-red gooseberry being tinged with yellow; in flavour; in being
smooth or downy,--few, however, of the Red gooseberries, whilst many of the
so-called Whites, are downy; or in being so spinose that one kind is called
Henderson's Porcupine. Two kinds acquire when mature a powdery bloom on
their fruit. The fruit varies in the thickness and veining of the skin,
and, lastly, in shape, being spherical, oblong, oval, or obovate. (10/123.
The fullest account of the gooseberry is given by Mr. Thompson in
'Transact. Hort. Soc.' volume 1 2nd series 1835 page 218 from which most of
the foregoing facts are taken.)
I cultivated fifty-four varieties, and, considering how greatly the fruit
differs, it was curious how closely similar the flowers were in all these
kinds. In only a few I detected a trace of difference in the size or colour
of the corolla. The calyx differed in a rather greater degree, for in some
kinds it was much redder than in others; and in one smooth white gooseberry
it 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 bracteae;
and this is the most singular deviation of structure which I have observed.
These same flowers also varied much in the number of the petals, and
occasionally in the number of the stamens and pistils; so that they were
semi-monstrous in structure, yet they produced plenty of fruit. Mr.
Thompson remarks that in the Pastime gooseberry "extra bracts are often
attached to the sides of the fruit." (10/124. 'Catalogue of Fruits of Hort.
Soc. Garden' 3rd edition 1842.)
The most interesting point in the history of the gooseberry is the steady
increase in the size of the fruit. Manchester is the metropolis of the
fanciers, and prizes from five shillings to five or ten pounds are yearly
given for the heaviest fruit. The 'Gooseberry Growers Register' is
published annually; the earliest known copy is dated 1786, but it is
certain that meetings for the adjudication of prizes were held some years
previously. (10/125. Mr. Clarkson of Manchester on the Culture of the
Gooseberry in Loudon's 'Gardener's Magazine' volume 4 1828 page 482.) The
'Register' for 1845 gives an account of 171 Gooseberry Shows, held in
different places during that year; and this fact shows on how large a scale
the culture has been carried on. The fruit of the wild gooseberry is said
(10/126. Downing 'Fruits of America' page 213.) 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, the fruit of the same variety reached the astonishing weight
of 37 dwts. 7 grs. (10/127. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1844 page 811 where a
table is given; and 1845 page 819. For the extreme weights gained see
'Journal of Horticulture' July 26, 1864 page 61.) or 896 grs.; that is,
between seven or eight times the weight of the wild fruit. I find that a
small apple, 6 1/2 inches in circumference, has exactly this same weight.
The "London" gooseberry (which in 1852 had altogether gained 333 prizes)
has, up to the present year of 1875, never reached a greater weight than
that attained in 1852. Perhaps the fruit of the gooseberry has now reached
the greatest possible weight, unless in the course of time some new and
distinct variety shall arise.
This gradual, and on the whole steady increase of weight from the latter
part of the last century to the year 1852, is probably in large part due to
improved methods of cultivation, for extreme care is now taken; the
branches and roots are trained, composts are made, the soil is mulched, and
only a few berries are left on each bush (10/128. Mr. Saul of Lancaster in
Loudon's 'Gardener's Mag.' volume 3 1828 page 421; and volume 10 1834 page
42.) 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. Assuredly the "Highwayman" in 1817 could
not have produced fruit like that of the "Roaring Lion" in 1825; nor could
the "Roaring Lion," though it was grown by many persons in many places,
gain the supreme triumph achieved in 1852 by the "London" Gooseberry.
WALNUT (Juglans regia).
This tree and the common nut belong to a widely different order from the
foregoing fruits, and are therefore here noticed. The walnut grows wild on
the Caucasus and in the Himalaya, where Dr. Hooker (10/129. 'Himalayan
Journals' 1854 volume 2 page 334. Moorcroft 'Travels' volume 2 page 146
describes four varieties cultivated in Kashmir.) found the fruit of full
size, but "as hard as a hickory-nut." It has been found fossil, as M. de
Saporta informs me, in the tertiary formation, of France.
In England the walnut presents considerable differences, in the shape and
size of the fruit, in the thickness of the husk, and in the thinness of the
shell; this latter quality has given rise to a variety called the thin-
shelled, which is valuable, but suffers from the attacks of titmice.
(10/130. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1850 page 723.) 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-shelled nuts. (10/131. Paper translated in Loudon's
'Gardener's Mag.' 1829 volume 5 page 202.) M. Cardan has minutely described
(10/132. Quoted in 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1849 page 101.) some singular
physiological peculiarities in the June-leafing variety, which produces its
leaves and flowers four or five weeks later than the common varieties; and
although in August it is apparently in exactly the same state of
forwardness as the other kinds, it retains its leaves and fruit much later
in the autumn. These constitutional peculiarities are strictly inherited.
Lastly, walnut-trees, which are properly monoicous, sometimes entirely fail
to produce male flowers. (10/133. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1847 pages 541 and
558.)
NUTS (Corylus avellana).
Most botanists rank all the varieties under the same species, the common
wild nut. (10/134. The following details are taken from the 'Catalogue of
Fruits, 1842 in Garden of Hort. Soc.' page 103; and from Loudon's
'Encyclop. of Gardening' page 943.) The husk, or involucre, differs
greatly, being extremely short in Barr's Spanish, and extremely long in
filberts, in which it is contracted so as to prevent the nut falling out.
This kind of husk also protects the nut from birds, for titmice (Parus)
have been observed (10/135. 'Gardener's Chron.' 1860 page 956.) 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 varieties, but is thin in Cosford's-nut, and in
one variety is of a bluish colour. The nut itself differs much in size and
shape, being ovate and compressed in filberts, nearly round and of great
size in cobs and Spanish nuts, oblong and longitudinally striated in
Cosford's, and obtusely four-sided in the Downton Square nut.
CUCURBITACEOUS PLANTS.
These plants have been for a long period the opprobrium of botanists;
numerous varieties have been ranked as species, and, what happens more
rarely, forms which now must be considered as species have been classed as
varieties. Owing to the admirable experimental researches of a
distinguished botanist, M. Naudin (10/136. 'Annales des Sc. Nat. Bot.' 4th
series volume 6 1856 page 5.), 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 been cultivated and concern us, namely, C. maxima and pepo,
which include all pumpkins, gourds, squashes, and the vegetable marrow, and
C. moschata. These three species are not known in a wild state; but Asa
Gray (10/137. 'American Journ. of Science' 2nd series volume 24 1857 page
442.) gives good reason for believing that some pumpkins are natives of N.
America.
These three species are closely allied, and have the same general habit,
but their innumerable varieties can always be distinguished, according to
Naudin, by certain almost fixed characters; and what is still more
important, when crossed they yield no seed, or only sterile seed; whilst
the varieties spontaneously intercross with the utmost freedom. Naudin
insists strongly (page 15), that, though these three species have varied
greatly in many characters, yet it has been in so closely an analogous
manner that the varieties can he arranged in almost parallel series, as we
have seen with the forms of wheat, with the two main races of the peach,
and in other cases. Though some of the varieties are inconstant in
character, yet others, when grown separately under uniform conditions of
life, are, as Naudin repeatedly (pages 6, 16, 35) urges, "douees d'une
stabilite presque comparable a celle des especes les mieux caracterisees."
One variety, l'Orangin (pages 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 (page 47) to C. pepo, says that
its races "ne different des especes veritables qu'en ce qu'elles peuvent
s'allier les unes aux autres par voie d'hybridite, sans que leur
descendance perde la faculte de se perpetuer." If we were to trust to
external differences alone, and give up the test of sterility, a multitude
of species would have to be formed out of the varieties of these three
species of Cucurbita. Many naturalists at the present day lay far too
little stress, in my opinion, on the test of sterility; yet it is not
improbable that distinct species of plants after a long course of
cultivation and variation may have their mutual sterility eliminated, as we
have every reason to believe has occurred with domesticated animals. Nor,
in the case of plants under cultivation, should we be justified in assuming
that varieties never acquire a slight degree of mutual sterility, as we
shall more fully see in a future chapter when certain facts are given on
the high authority of Gartner and Kolreuter. (10/138. Gartner
'Bastarderzeugung' 1849 s. 87 and s. 169 with respect to Maize; on
Verbascum ibid s. 92 and 181; also his 'Kenntniss der Befruchtung' s. 137.
With respect to Nicotiana see Kolreuter 'Zweite Forts.' 1764 s. 53; though
this is a somewhat different case.)
The forms of C. pepo are classed by Naudin under seven sections, each
including subordinate varieties. He considers this plant as probably the
most variable in the world. The fruit of one variety (pages 33, 46) exceeds
in value that of another by more than two thousand fold! When the fruit is
of very large size, the number produced is few (page 45); when of small
size, many are produced. No less astonishing (page 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 surface
of the fruit, in the hardness both of the shell and of the flesh, and in
the taste of the flesh, which is either extremely sweet, farinaceous, or
slightly bitter. The seeds also differ in a slight degree in shape, and
wonderfully in size (page 34), namely, from six or seven to more than
twenty-five millimetres in length.
In the varieties which grow upright or do not run and climb, the tendrils,
though useless (page 31), are either present or are represented by various
semi-monstrous organs, or are quite absent. The tendrils are even absent in
some running varieties in which the stems are much elongated. It is a
singular fact that (page 31) in all the varieties with dwarfed stems, the
leaves closely resemble each other in shape.]
Those naturalists who believe in the immutability of species often maintain
that, even in the most variable forms, the characters which they consider
of specific value are unchangeable. To give an example from a conscientious
writer (10/139. Godron 'De l'Espece' tome 2 page 64.) who, relying on the
labours of M. Naudin, and referring to the species of Cucurbita, says, "au
milieu de toutes les variations du fruit, les tiges, les feuilles, les
calices, les corolles, les etamines restent invariables dans chacune
d'elles." Yet M. Naudin, in describing Cucurbita pepo (page 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. Neanmoins, je crois qu'on
la distinguera toujours facilement des deux autres especes, si l'on veut ne
pas perdre de vue les caracteres differentiels que je m'efforce de faire
ressortir. Ces caracteres sont quelquefois peu marques: il arrive meme que
plusieurs d'entre eux s'effacent presque entierement, mais ii en reste
toujours quelques-uns qui remettent l'observateur sur la voie." Now let it
be noted what a difference, with regard to the immutability of the so-
called specific characters this paragraph produces on the mind, from that
above quoted from M. Godron.
I will add another remark: naturalists continually assert that no important
organ varies; but in saying this they unconsciously argue in a vicious
circle; for if an organ, let it be what it may, is highly variable, it is
regarded as unimportant, and under a systematic point of view this is quite
correct. But as long as constancy is thus taken as the criterion of
importance, it will indeed be long before an important organ can be shown
to be inconstant. The enlarged form of the stigmas, and their sessile
position on the summit of the ovary, must be considered as important
characters, and were used by Gasparini to separate certain pumpkins as a
DISTINCT GENUS; but Naudin says (page 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 (page 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 (page 50)
varies greatly in shape, being oval, nearly spherical, or cylindrical, more
or less swollen in the upper part, or constricted round the middle, and
either straight or curved. When the ovarium is short and oval the interior
structure does not differ from that of C. maxima and pepo, but when it is
elongated the carpels occupy only the terminal and swollen portion. I may
add that in one variety of the cucumber (Cucumis sativus) the fruit
regularly contains five carpels instead of three. (10/140. Naudin 'Annal.
des Sc. Nat.' 4th series Bot. tome 11 1859 page 28.) I presume that it will
not be disputed that we here have instances of great variability in organs
of the highest physiological importance, and with most plants of the
highest classificatory importance.
[Sageret (10/141. 'Memoire sur les Cucurbitacees' 1826 pages 6, 24.) and
Naudin found that the cucumber (C. sativus) could not be crossed with any
other species of the genus; therefore no doubt it is specifically distinct
from the melon. This will appear to most persons a superfluous statement;
yet we hear from Naudin (10/142. 'Flore des Serres' October 1861 quoted in
'Gardener's Chronicle' 1861 page 1135. I have often consulted and taken
some facts from M. Naudin's Memoir on Cucumis in 'Annal. des Sc. Nat.' 4th
series Bot. tome 11 1859 page 5.) that there is a race of melons, in which
the fruit is so like that of the cucumber, "both externally and internally,
that it is hardly possible to distinguish the one from the other except by
the leaves." The varieties of the melon seem to be endless, for Naudin
after six years' study had not come to the end of them: he divides them
into ten sections, including numerous sub-varieties which all intercross
with perfect ease. (10/143. See also Sageret 'Memoire' page 7.) Of the
forms considered by Naudin to be varieties, botanists have made thirty
distinct species! "and they had not the slightest acquaintance with the
multitude of new forms which have appeared since 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 become elongated.
Several varieties of the melon are interesting from assuming the
characteristic features of distinct species and even of distinct though
allied genera: thus the serpent-melon has some resemblance to the fruit of
Trichosanthes anguina; we have seen that other varieties closely resemble
cucumbers; some Egyptian varieties have their seeds attached to a portion
of the pulp, and this is characteristic of certain wild forms. Lastly, a
variety of melon from Algiers is remarkable from announcing its maturity by
"a spontaneous and almost sudden dislocation," when deep cracks suddenly
appear, and the fruit falls to pieces; and this occurs with the wild C.
momordica. Finally, M. Naudin well remarks that this "extraordinary
production of races and varieties by a single species and their permanence
when not interfered with by crossing, are phenomena well calculated to
cause reflection."
USEFUL AND ORNAMENTAL TREES.
Trees deserve a passing notice on account of the numerous varieties which
they present, differing in their precocity, in their manner of growth,
their foliage, and bark. Thus of the common ash (Fraxinus excelsior) the
catalogue of Messrs. Lawson of Edinburgh includes twenty-one varieties,
some of which differ much in their bark; there is a yellow, a streaked
reddish-white, a purple, a wart-barked and a fungous-barked variety.
(10/144. Loudon's 'Arboretum et Fruticetum' volume 2 page 1217.) Of hollies
no less than eighty-four varieties are grown alongside each other in Mr.
Paul's nursery. (10/145. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1866 page 1096.) 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 modifications have
not been accumulated by selection; hence, also, it follows that we do not
here meet with sub-varieties subordinate to varieties, and these again
subordinate to higher groups. On the Continent, however, where the forests
are more carefully attended to than in England, Alph. De Candolle (10/146.
'Geograph. Bot.' page 1096.) says that there is not a forester who does not
search for seeds from that variety which he esteems the most valuable.
Our useful trees have seldom been exposed to any great change of
conditions; they have not been richly manured, and the English kinds grow
under their proper climate. Yet in examining extensive beds of seedlings in
nursery-gardens considerable differences may be generally observed in them;
and whilst touring in England I have been surprised at the amount of
difference in the appearance of the same species 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 therefore exposed to conditions not strictly natural: even this
slight change would probably suffice to cause seedlings raised from such
trees to be variable. Whether or not our half-wild English trees, as a
general rule, are more variable than trees growing in their native forests,
there can hardly be a doubt that they have yielded a greater number of
strongly-marked and singular variations of structure.
In manner of growth, we have weeping or pendulous varieties of the willow,
ash, elm, oak, and yew, and other trees; and this weeping habit is
sometimes inherited, though in a singularly capricious manner. In the
Lombardy poplar, and in certain fastigiate or pyramidal varieties of
thorns, junipers, oaks, etc., we have an opposite kind of growth. The
Hessian oak (10/147. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1842 page 36.), which is famous
from its fastigiate 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 fastigiate oak is said to have been found wild in the Pyrenees, and
this is a surprising circumstance; it generally comes so true by seed, that
De Candolle considered it as specifically distinct. (10/148. Loudon's
'Arboretum et Fruticetum' volume 3 page 1731.) The fastigiate Juniper (J.
suecica) likewise transmits its character by seed. (10/149. Ibid volume 4
page 2489.) Dr. Falconer informs me that in the Botanic Gardens at Calcutta
the great heat caused apple-trees to become fastigiate; and we thus see the
same result following from the effects of climate and from some unknown
cause. (10/150. Godron 'De l'Espece' tome 2 page 91 describes four
varieties of Robinia remarkable from their manner of growth.)
In foliage we have variegated leaves which are often inherited; dark purple
or red leaves, as in the hazel, barberry, and beech, the colour in these
two latter trees being sometimes strongly and sometimes weakly inherited
(10/151. 'Journal of a Horticultural Tour, by Caledonian Hort. Soc.' 1823
page 107. Alph. De Candolle 'Geograph. Bot.' page 1083. Verlot 'Sur La
Production des Varietes' 1865 page 55 for the Barberry.); deeply-cut
leaves; and leaves covered with prickles, as in the variety of the holly
well called ferox, which is said to reproduce itself by seed. (10/152.
Loudon's 'Arboretum et Fruticetum' volume 2 page 508.) In fact, nearly all
the peculiar varieties evince a tendency, more or less strongly marked, to
reproduce themselves by seed. (10/153. Verlot 'Des Varietes' 1865 page 92.)
This is to a certain extent the case, according to Bosc (10/154. Loudon's
'Arboretum et Fruticetum' volume 3 page 1376.), 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."
(10/155. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1841 page 687.) I will add only one other
remarkable case of variation in foliage, namely, the occurrence of two sub-
varieties of the ash with simple instead of pinnated leaves, and which
generally transmit their character by seed. (10/156. Godron 'De l'Espece'
tome 2 page 89. In Loudon's 'Gardener's Mag.' volume 12 1836 page 371, a
variegated bushy ash is described and figured, as having simple leaves; it
originated in Ireland.) The occurrence, in trees belonging to widely
different orders, of weeping and fastigiate varieties, and of trees bearing
deeply cut, variegated, and purple leaves, shows that these deviations of
structure must result from some very general physiological laws.
Differences in general appearance and foliage, not more strongly marked
than those above indicated, have led good observers to rank as distinct
species certain forms which are now known to be mere varieties. Thus, a
plane-tree long cultivated in England was considered by almost 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 known that the original plants,
five in number, suddenly appeared in a bed of seedlings, raised at Mr.
Loddige's nursery, from T. orientalis; and Dr. Hooker has adduced excellent
evidence that at Turin seeds of T. pendula have reproduced the parent form,
T. orientalis. (10/157. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1863 page 575.)
Every one must have noticed how certain individual trees regularly put
forth and shed their leaves earlier or later than others of the same
species. There is a famous horse-chestnut in the Tuileries which is named
from leafing so much earlier than the others. There is also an oak near
Edinburgh which 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 fortnight, as if they still grew on their own stocks.
(10/158. Quoted from Royal Irish Academy in 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1841
page 767.) There is a Cornish variety of the elm which is almost an
evergreen, and is so tender that the shoots are often killed by the frost;
and the varieties of the Turkish oak (Q. cerris) may be arranged as
deciduous, sub-evergreen, and evergreen. (10/159. Loudon 'Arboretum et
Fruticetum:' for Elm see volume 3 page 1376; for Oak page 1846.)
SCOTCH FIR (Pinus sylvestris).
I allude to this tree as it bears on the question of the greater
variability of our hedgerow trees compared with those under strictly
natural conditions. A well-informed writer (10/160. 'Gardener's Chronicle'
1849?, page 822.) states that the Scotch fir presents few varieties in its
native Scotch forests; but that it "varies much in figure and foliage, and
in the size, shape, and colour of its cones, when several generations have
been produced away from its native locality." There is little doubt that
the highland and lowland varieties differ in the value of their 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." (10/161. 'Arboretum et Fruticetum' volume 4 page 2150.) I may
mention one rather important point in which this tree occasionally varies;
in the classification of the Coniferae, 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. (10/162. 'Gardener's
Chronicle' 1852 page 693.) Besides these differences in the semi-cultivated
Scotch fir, there are in several parts of Europe natural or geographical
races, which have been ranked by some authors as distinct species. (10/163.
See 'Beitrage zur Kenntniss Europaischer Pinus-arten von Dr. Christ: Flora,
1864.' He shows that in the Ober-Engadin P. sylvestris and montana are
connected by intermediate links.) Loudon (10/164. 'Arboretum et Fruticetum'
volume 4 pages 2159 and 2189.) considers P. pumilio, with its several sub-
varieties, as mughus, nana, etc., which differ much when planted in
different soils, and only come "tolerably true from seed," as alpine
varieties of the Scotch fir; if this were proved to be the case, it would
be an interesting fact as showing that dwarfing from long exposure to a
severe climate is to a certain extent inherited.
THE HAWTHORN (Crataegus oxyacantha).
The Hawthorn has varied much. Besides endless slighter variations in the
form of the leaves, and in the size, hardness, fleshiness, and shape of the
berries, Loudon (10/165. Ibid volume 2 page 830; Loudon's 'Gardener's Mag.'
volume 6 1830 page 714.) enumerates twenty-nine well-marked varieties.
Besides those cultivated for their pretty flowers, there are others with
golden-yellow, black, and whitish berries; others with woolly berries, and
others with re-curved thorns. Loudon truly remarks that the chief reason
why the hawthorn has yielded more varieties than most other trees, is that
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. (10/166.
Loudon's 'Arboretum et Fruticetum' volume 2 page 834.) There is also a
variety which is apetalous, or has its petals reduced to mere rudiments.
The famous Glastonbury thorn flowers and leafs towards the end of December,
at which time it bears berries produced from an earlier crop of flowers.
(10/167. Loudon's 'Gardener's Mag.' volume 9 1833 page 123.) It is worth
notice that several varieties of the hawthorn, as well as of the lime and
juniper, are very distinct in their foliage and habit whilst young, but in
the course of thirty or forty years become extremely like each other
(10/168. Ibid volume 11 1835 page 503.) thus reminding us of the well-known
fact that the deodar, the cedar of Lebanon, and that of the Atlas, are
distinguished with the greatest ease whilst young, but with difficulty when
old.
FLOWERS.
I shall not for several reasons treat the variability of plants which are
cultivated for their flowers alone at any great length. Many of our
favourite kinds in their present state are the descendants of two or more
species crossed and commingled together, and this circumstance alone would
render it difficult to detect the difference due to variation. For
instance, our Roses, Petunias, Calceolarias, Fuchsias, Verbenas, Gladioli,
Pelargoniums, etc., certainly have had a multiple origin. A botanist well
acquainted with the parent-forms would probably 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 (10/169. 'Gardener's
Chronicle' 1845 page 623.) 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 amount of confinement in the pot to make it throw up a flower-
stem; some varieties bloom well at the commencement of the season, others
at the close; one variety is known (10/170. D. Beaton in 'Cottage Gardener'
1860 page 377. See also Mr. Beck on the habits of Queen Mab in 'Gardener's
Chronicle' 1845 page 226.), which will stand "even pine-apple top and
bottom heat, without looking any more drawn than if it had stood in a
common greenhouse; and Blanche Fleur seems as if made on purpose for
growing in winter, like many bulbs, and to rest all summer." These odd
constitutional peculiarities would enable a plant in a state of nature to
become adapted to widely different circumstances and climates.
Flowers possess little interest under our present point of view, because
they have been almost exclusively attended to and selected for their
beautiful colour, size, perfect outline, and manner of growth. In these
particulars hardly one long-cultivated flower can be named which has not
varied greatly. What does a florist care for the shape and structure of the
organs of fructification, unless, indeed, they add to the beauty of the
flower? When this is the case, flowers become modified in important points;
stamens and pistils may be converted into petals, and additional petals may
be developed, as in all double flowers. The process of gradual selection by
which flowers have been rendered more and more double, each step in the
process of conversion being inherited, has been recorded in several
instances. In the so-called double flowers of the Compositae, 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. (10/171. Moquin-Tandon 'Elements de Teratologie' 1841 page 213.) In
the "hose in hose" primulae, 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 (10/172. See also 'Cottage Gardener' 1860 page
133.) and some of the seedlings inherited the coloured calyx during at
least six generations. In the "hen-and-chicken" daisy the main flower is
surrounded by a brood of small flowers developed from buds in the axils of
the scales of the involucre. A wonderful poppy has been described, in which
the stamens are converted into pistils; and so strictly was this
peculiarity inherited that, out of 154 seedlings, one alone reverted to the
ordinary and common type. (10/173. Quoted by Alph. de Candolle 'Bibl.
Univ.' November 1862 page 58.) Of the cock's-comb (Celosia cristata), which
is an annual, there are several races in which the flower-stem is
wonderfully "fasciated" or compressed; and one has been exhibited (10/174.
Knight 'Transact. Hort. Soc.' volume 4 page 322.) actually eighteen inches
in breadth. Peloric races of Gloxinia speciosa and Antirrhinum majus can be
propagated by seed, and they differ in a wonderful manner from the typical
form both in structure and appearance.
A much more remarkable modification has been recorded by Sir William and
Dr. Hooker (10/175. 'Botanical Magazine' tab. 5160 figure 4; Dr. Hooker in
'Gardener's Chronicle' 1860 page 190; Prof. Harvey in 'Gardener's
Chronicle' 1860 page 145; Mr. Crocker in 'Gardener's Chron.' 1861 page
1092.) in Begonia frigida. This plant properly produces male and female
flowers on the same fascicles; and in the female flowers the perianth is
superior; but a plant at Kew produced, besides the ordinary flowers, others
which graduated towards a perfect hermaphrodite structure; and in these
flowers the perianth was inferior. To show the 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 monstrosity, for analogous structures naturally occur in
other orders, as with Saxifragae and Aristolochiaceae. The interest of the
case is largely added to by Mr. C.W. Crocker's observation that seedlings
from the NORMAL flowers produced plants which bore, in about the same
proportion as the parent-plant, hermaphrodite flowers having inferior
perianths. The hermaphrodite flowers fertilised with their own pollen were
sterile.
If florists had attended to, selected, and propagated by seed other
modifications of structure besides those which are beautiful, a host of
curious varieties would certainly have been raised; and they would probably
have transmitted their characters so truly that the cultivator would have
felt aggrieved, as in the case of culinary vegetables, if 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. (10/176. Alph.
de Candolle 'Geograph. Bot.' page 1083; 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1861 page
433. The inheritance of the white and golden zones in Pelargonium largely
depends on the nature of the soil. See D. Beaton in 'Journal of
Horticulture' 1861 page 64.) Any one who will habitually examine highly-
cultivated flowers in gardens and greenhouses will observe numerous
deviations in structure; but most of these must be ranked as mere
monstrosities, and are only so far interesting as showing how plastic the
organisation becomes under high cultivation. From this point of view such
works as Professor Moquin-Tandon's 'Teratologie' are highly instructive.
ROSES.
These flowers offer an instance of a number of forms generally ranked as
species, namely, R. centifolia, gallica, alba, damascena, spinosissima,
bracteata, indica, semperflorens, moschata, etc., which have largely varied
and been intercrossed. The genus Rosa is a notoriously difficult one, and,
though some of the above forms are admitted by all botanists to be distinct
species, others are doubtful; thus, with respect to the British forms,
Babington makes seventeen, and Bentham 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 (10/177. 'Rose Amateur's Guide' T. Rivers
1837 page 21.) 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 re-crossed, it is no wonder that Targioni-
Tozzetti, in speaking of the common roses of the Italian gardens, remarks
that "the native country and precise form of the wild type of most of them
are involved in much uncertainty." (10/178. 'Journal Hort. Soc.' volume 9
1855 page 182.) Nevertheless, Mr. Rivers in referring to R. indica (page
68) says that the descendants of each group may generally be recognised by
a close observer. The same author often speaks of roses as having been a
little hybridised; but it is evident that in very many cases the
differences due to variation and to hybridisation can now only be
conjecturally distinguished.
The species have varied both by seed and by bud; such modified buds being
often called by gardeners sports. In the following chapter I shall fully
discuss this latter subject, and shall show that bud-variations can be
propagated not only by grafting and budding, but often by seed. Whenever a
new rose appears with any peculiar character, however produced, if it
yields seed, Mr. Rivers (page 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 page 16), that when grown in different soils it varies
so much in colour that it has been thought to form several distinct kinds.
Altogether the number of kinds is very great: thus M. Desportes, in his
Catalogue for 1829, enumerates 2562 as cultivated in France; but no doubt a
large proportion of these are merely nominal.
It would be useless to specify the many points of difference between the
various kinds, but some constitutional peculiarities may be mentioned.
Several French roses (Rivers page 12) will not succeed in England; and an
excellent horticulturist (10/179. The Rev. W.F. Radclyffe in 'Journal of
Horticulture' March 14, 1865 page 207.) remarks, that "Even in the same
garden you will find that a rose that will do nothing under a south wall
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." (10/180. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1831 page 46.) From the
effects of crossing and variation Mr. Rivers enthusiastically anticipates
(page 87) that the day will come when all our roses, even moss-roses, will
have evergreen foliage, brilliant and fragrant flowers, and the habit of
blooming from June till November. "A distant view this seems, but
perseverance in gardening will yet achieve wonders," as assuredly it has
already achieved wonders.
It may be worth while briefly to give the well-known history of one class
of roses. In 1793 some wild Scotch roses (R. spinosissima) were
transplanted into a garden (10/181. Mr. Sabine in 'Transact. Hort. Soc.'
volume 4 page 285.); and one of these bore flowers slightly tinged with
red, from which a plant was raised with semi-monstrous flowers, also tinged
with 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 sections, were described by Mr. Sabine. In 1841 (10/182.
'An Encyclop. of Plants' by J.C. Loudon 1841 page 443.) it is said that
three hundred varieties could be procured in the nursery-gardens near
Glasgow; and these are described as blush, crimson, purple, red, marbled,
two-coloured, white, and yellow, and as differing much in the size and
shape of the flower.
PANSY OR HEARTSEASE (Viola tricolor, etc.).
The history of this flower seems to be pretty well known; it was grown in
Evelyn's garden in 1687; but the varieties were not attended to till 1810-
1812, when Lady Monke, together with Mr. Lee, the well-known nursery-man,
energetically commenced their culture; and in the course of a few years
twenty varieties could be purchased. (10/183. Loudon's 'Gardener's
Magazine' volume 11 1835 page 427; also Journal of Horticulture' April 14,
1863 page 275.) At about the same period, namely in 1813 or 1814, Lord
Gambier collected some wild plants, and his gardener, Mr. Thomson,
cultivated them, together with some common garden varieties, and soon
effected a great improvement. The first great change was the conversion of
the dark lines in the centre of the flower into a dark eye or centre, which
at that period had never been seen, but is now considered one of the chief
requisites of a first-rate flower. In 1835 a book entirely devoted to this
flower was published, and four hundred named varieties were on sale. 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
enquire 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 (10/184. Loudon's 'Gardener's Magazine' volume 8
page 575: volume 9 page 689.) are descended from several wild stocks,
namely, V. tricolor, lutea, grandiflora, amoena, 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 said to have been
crossed with V. lutea. Viola amoena (10/185. Sir J.E. Smith 'English Flora'
volume 1 page 306. H.C. Watson 'Cybele Britannica' volume 1 1847 page 181.)
is now looked at by all botanists as a natural variety of V. grandiflora;
and this and V. sudetica have been proved to be identical with V. lutea.
The latter and V. tricolor (including its admitted variety V. arvensis) are
ranked as distinct species by Babington, and likewise by M. Gay (10/186.
Quoted from 'Annales des Sciences' in the Companion to the 'Bot. Mag.'
volume 1 1835 page 159.) who has paid particular attention to the genus;
but the specific distinction between V. lutea and tricolor is chiefly
grounded on the one being strictly and the other not strictly perennial, as
well as on some other slight and unimportant differences in the form of the
stem and stipules. Bentham unites these two forms; and a high authority on
such matters, Mr. H.C. Watson (10/187. 'Cybele Britannica' volume 1 page
173. See also Dr. Herbert on the changes of colour in transplanted
specimens, and on the natural variations of V. grandiflora, in 'Transact.
Hort. Soc.' volume 4 page 19.) says that, "while V. tricolor passes into V.
arvensis on the one side, it approximates so much towards V. lutea and V.
Curtisii on the other side, that a distinction becomes scarcely more easy
between them."
Hence, after having carefully compared numerous varieties, I gave up the
attempt as too difficult for any one except a professed botanist. Most of
the varieties present such inconstant characters, that when grown in poor
soil, or when flowering out of their proper season, they produced
differently coloured and much smaller flowers. Cultivators speak of this or
that kind as being remarkably constant or true; but by this they do not
mean, as in other cases, that the kind transmits its character by seed, but
that the individual plant does not change much under culture. The principle
of inheritance, however, does hold good to a certain extent even with the
fleeting varieties of the Heartsease, for to gain good sorts it is
indispensable to sow the seed of good sorts. Nevertheless, in almost every
large seed-bed a few, almost wild seedlings reappear through reversion. On
comparing the choicest varieties with the nearest allied wild forms,
besides the difference in the size, outline, and colour of the flowers, the
leaves sometimes 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 was
depressed, becoming, as usual, laterally compressed towards the extremity.
In a large number of flowers, on the other hand, examined by me in 1856
from a nursery-garden in a different part of England, the nectary hardly
varied at all. Now M. Gay says that in certain districts, especially in
Auvergne, the nectary of the wild V. grandiflora varies in the manner just
described. Must we conclude from this that the cultivated varieties first
mentioned were all descended from V. grandiflora, and that the second lot,
though having the same general appearance, were descended from V. tricolor,
of which the nectary, according to M. Gay, is subject to little variation?
Or is it not more probable that both these wild forms would be found under
other conditions to vary in the same manner and degree, thus showing that
they ought not to be ranked as specifically distinct?
THE DAHLIA
The Dahlia has been referred to by almost every author who has written on
the variation of plants, because it is believed that all the varieties are
descended from a single species, and because all have arisen since 1802 in
France, and since 1804 in England. (10/188. Salisbury in 'Transact. Hort.
Soc.' volume 1 1812 pages 84, 92. A semi-double variety was produced in
Madrid in 1790.) Mr. Sabine remarks that "it seems as if some period of
cultivation had been required before the fixed qualities of the native
plant gave way and began to sport into those changes which now so delight
us." (10/189. 'Transact. Hort. Soc.' volume 3 1820 page 225.) The flowers
have been greatly modified in shape from a flat to a globular form. Anemone
and ranunculus-like races (10/190. Loudon's 'Gardener's Mag.' volume 6 1830
page 77.) 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 (10/191. Loudon's 'Encyclop. of Gardening' page
1035.) 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 effected by continued selection. Salisbury, writing 1808, says that
they then flowered from September to November; in 1828 some new dwarf
varieties began flowering in June (10/192. 'Transact. Hort. Soc.' volume 1
page 91; and Loudon's 'Gardener's Mag.' volume 3 1828 page 179.); and Mr.
Grieve informs me that the dwarf purple Zelinda in his garden is in full
bloom by the middle of June and sometimes even earlier. Slight
constitutional differences have been observed between certain varieties:
thus, some kinds succeed much better in one part of England than in another
(10/193. Mr. Wildman in 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1843 page 87. 'Cottage
Gardener' April 8, 1856 page 33.) and it has been noticed that some
varieties require much more moisture than others. (10/194. M. Faivre has
given an interesting account of the successive variations of the Chinese
primrose, since its introduction into Europe about the year 1820: 'Revue
des Cours Scientifiques' June 1869 page 428.)
Such flowers as the CARNATION, COMMON TULIP, and HYACINTH, which are
believed to be descended, each from a single wild form, present innumerable
varieties, differing almost exclusively in the size, form, and colour of
the flowers. These and some other anciently cultivated plants which have
been long propagated by offsets, pipings, bulbs, etc., become so
excessively variable, that almost each new plant raised from seed forms a
new variety, "all of which to describe particularly," as old Gerarde wrote
in 1597, "were to roll Sisyphus's stone, or to number the sands."
HYACINTH (Hyacinthus orientalis).
It may, however, be worth while to give a short account of this plant,
which was introduced into England in 1596 from the Levant. (10/195. The
best and fullest account of this plant which I have met with is by a famous
horticulturist, Mr. Paul, of Waltham, in the 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1864
page 342.) The petals of the original flower, says Mr. Paul, were narrow,
wrinkled, pointed, and of a flimsy texture; now they are broad, smooth,
solid, and rounded. The erectness, breadth, and length of the whole spike,
and the size of the flowers, have all increased. The colours have been
intensified and diversified. Gerarde, in 1597, 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 cultivation. While looking at the extremes, we must not,
however, forget that there are intermediate stages which are for the most
part lost to us. Nature will sometimes indulge herself with a leap, but as
a rule her march is slow and gradual." He adds that the cultivator should
have "in his mind an ideal of beauty, for the realisation of which he works
with head and hand." We thus see how clearly Mr. Paul, an eminently
successful cultivator of this flower, appreciates the action of methodical
selection.
In a curious and apparently trustworthy treatise, published at Amsterdam
(10/196. 'Des Jacinthes, de leur Anatomie, Reproduction, et Culture'
Amsterdam 1768.) in 1768, it is stated that nearly 2,000 sorts were then
known; but in 1864 Mr. Paul found only 700 in the largest garden at
Haarlem. In this treatise it is said that not an instance is known of any
one variety reproducing itself truly by seed: the white kinds, however, now
(10/197. Alph. de Candolle 'Geograph. Bot.' page 1082.) almost always yield
white hyacinths, and the yellow kinds come nearly true. The hyacinth is
remarkable from having given rise to varieties with bright blue, pink, and
distinctly yellow flowers. These three primary colours do not occur in the
varieties of any other species; nor do they often all occur even in the
distinct 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 (page 43) that some
experienced florists, such as the famous G. Voorhelm, 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
(page 35) which scarcely ever has more than three leaves; another never
more than five; whilst others regularly produce either seven or eight
leaves. A variety, called la Coryphee, invariably produces (page 116) two
flower-stems, united together and covered by one skin. The flower-stem in
another kind (page 128) comes out of the ground in a coloured sheath,
before the appearance of the leaves, and is consequently liable to suffer
from frost. Another variety always pushes a second flower-stem after the
first has begun to develop itself. Lastly, white hyacinths with red,
purple, or violet centres (page 129) are the most liable to rot. Thus, the
hyacinth, like so many previous plants, when long cultivated and closely
watched, is found to offer many singular variations.]
In the two last chapters I have given in some detail the range of
variation, and the history, as far as known, of a considerable number of
plants, which have been cultivated for various purposes. But some of the
most variable plants, such as Kidney-beans, Capsicum, Millets, Sorghum,
etc., have been passed over; for botanists are not at all agreed which
kinds ought to rank as species and which as varieties; and the wild parent-
species are unknown. (10/198. Alph. De Candolle 'Geograph. Bot.' page 983.)
Many plants long cultivated in tropical countries, such as the Banana, have
produced numerous varieties; but as these have never been described with
even moderate care, they are here also passed over. Nevertheless, a
sufficient, and perhaps more than sufficient, number of cases have been
given, so that the reader may be enabled to judge for himself on the nature
and great amount of variation which cultivated plants have undergone.