The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication Volume I Part 32

(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 a.n.a.logous 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 cavendis.h.i.+, 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 ac.u.minated. 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.

'b.a.s.t.a.r.derzeugung' 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 cya.n.u.s, 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 a.n.a.logy 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 dest.i.tute 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 cla.s.s 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 sh.e.l.l-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 th.o.r.n.y, and produced red flowers, dest.i.tute 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 th.o.r.n.y 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. d.i.c.kson 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 Persic.u.m strain, and the other the Coum strain. Oenothera biennis has been seen (11/56. Gartner 'b.a.s.t.a.r.derzeugung' 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.

LEAVES AND SHOOTS.

Changes, through bud-variation, in fruits and flowers have hitherto been treated of; incidentally some remarkable modifications in the leaves and shoots of the rose and Paritium, and in a lesser degree in the foliage of the Pelargonium and Chrysanthemum, have been noticed. I will now add a few more cases of variation in leaf-buds. Verlot (11/60. 'Des Varietes' 1865 page 5.) states that on Aralia trifoliata, which properly has leaves with three leaflets, branches frequently appear bearing simple leaves of various forms; these can be propagated by buds or by grafting, and have given rise, as he states, to several nominal species.

With respect to trees, the history of but few of the many varieties with curious or ornamental foliage is known; but several probably have originated by bud-variation. Here is one case:--An old ash-tree (Fraxinus excelsior) in the grounds of Necton, as Mr. Mason states, "for many years has had one bough of a totally different character to the rest of the tree, or of any other ash-tree which I have seen; being short-jointed and densely covered with foliage." It was ascertained that this variety could be propagated by grafts. (11/61. W. Mason in 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1843 page 878.) The varieties of some trees with cut leaves, as the oak-leaved laburnum, the parsley-leaved vine, and especially the fern-leaved beech, are apt to revert by buds to the common forms. (11/62. Alex. Braun 'Ray Soc. Bot. Mem.' 1853 page 315; 'Gardener's Chron.' 1841 page 329.) The fern-like leaves of the beech sometimes revert only partially, and the branches display here and there sprouts bearing common leaves, fern-like, and variously shaped leaves. Such cases differ but little from the so- called heterophyllus varieties, in which the tree habitually bears leaves of various forms; but it is probable that most heterophyllous trees have originated as seedlings. There is a sub-variety of the weeping willow with leaves rolled up into a spiral coil; and Mr. Masters states that a tree of this kind kept true in his garden for twenty-five years, and then threw out a single upright shoot bearing flat leaves. (11/63. Dr. M.T. Masters 'Royal Inst.i.tution Lecture' March 16, 1860.)

I have often noticed single twigs and branches on beech and other trees with their leaves fully expanded before those on the other branches had opened; and as there was nothing in their exposure or character to account for this difference, I presume that they had appeared as bud-variations, like the early and late fruit-maturing varieties of the peach and nectarine.

Cryptogamic plants are liable to bud-variation, for fronds on the same fern often display remarkable deviations of structure. Spores, which are of the nature of buds, taken from such abnormal fronds, reproduce, with remarkable fidelity, the same variety, after pa.s.sing through the s.e.xual stage. (11/64.

See Mr. W.K. Bridgeman's curious paper in 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.'

December 1861; also Mr. J. Scott 'Bot. Soc. Edinburgh' June 12, 1862.)

With respect to colour, leaves often become by bud-variation zoned, blotched, or spotted with white, yellow, and red; and this occasionally occurs even with plants in a state of nature. Variegation, however, appears still more frequently in plants produced from seed; even the cotyledons or seed-leaves being thus affected. (11/65. 'Journal of Horticulture' 1861 page 336; Verlot 'Des Varietes' page 76.) There have been endless disputes whether variegation should be considered as a disease. In a future chapter we shall see that it is much influenced, both in the case of seedlings and of mature plants, by the nature of the soil. Plants which have become variegated as seedlings, generally transmit their character by seed to a large proportion of their progeny; and Mr. Salter has given me a list of eight genera in which this occurred. (11/66. See also Verlot 'Des Varietes'

page 74.) Sir F. Pollock has given me more precise information: he sowed seed from a variegated plant of Ballota nigra which was found growing wild, and thirty per cent of the seedlings were variegated; seed from these latter being sown, sixty per cent came up variegated. When branches become variegated by bud-variation, and the variety is attempted to be propagated by seed, the seedlings are rarely variegated: Mr. Salter found this to be the case with plants belonging to eleven genera, in which the greater number of the seedlings proved to be green-leaved; yet a few were slightly variegated, or were quite white, but none were worth keeping. Variegated plants, whether originally produced from seeds or buds, can generally be propagated by budding, grafting, etc.; but all are apt to revert by bud- variation to their ordinary foliage. This tendency, however, differs much in the varieties of even the same species; for instance, the golden-striped variety of Euonymus j.a.ponicus "is very liable to run back to the green- leaved, while the silver-striped variety hardly ever changes." (11/67.

'Gardener's Chron.' 1844 page 86.) I have seen a variety of the holly, with its leaves having a central yellow patch, which had everywhere partially reverted to the ordinary foliage, so that on the same small branch there were many twigs of both kinds. In the pelargonium, and in some other plants, variegation is generally accompanied by some degree of dwarfing, as is well exemplified in the "Dandy" pelargonium. When such dwarf varieties sport back by buds or suckers to the ordinary foliage, the dwarfed stature still remains. (11/68. Ibid 1861 page 963.) It is remarkable that plants propagated from branches which have reverted from variegated to plain leaves (11/69. Ibid 1861 page 433; 'Cottage Gardener' 1860 page 2.) do not always (or never, as one observer a.s.serts) perfectly resemble the original plain-leaved plant from which the variegated branch arose: it seems that a plant, in pa.s.sing by bud-variation from plain leaves to variegated, and back again from variegated to plain, is generally in some degree affected so as to a.s.sume a slightly different aspect.