[29]
In the common wind-flower (Anemone nemorosa) an almost equal amount of
variation occurs; and I have myself gathered in one locality flowers
varying from 7/8 inch to 1-3/4 inch in diameter; the bracts varying from
1-1/2 inch to 4 inches across; and the petaloid sepals either broad or
narrow, and varying in number from five to ten. Though generally pure
white on their upper surface, some specimens are a full pink, while
others have a decided bluish tinge.
Mr. Darwin states that he carefully examined a large number of plants of
Geranium phaeum and G. pyrenaicum (not perhaps truly British but
frequently found wild), which had escaped from cultivation, and had
spread by seed in an open plantation; and he declares that "the
seedlings varied in almost every single character, both in their flowers
and foliage, to a degree which I have never seen exceeded; yet they
could not have been exposed to any great change of their
conditions."[30]
The following examples of variation in important parts of plants were
collected by Mr. Darwin and have been copied from his unpublished
MSS.
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