Many of the beautiful
pelargoniums of our greenhouses are hybrids, such as P. ignescens from a
cross between P. citrinodorum and P. fulgidum, which is quite fertile,
and has become the parent of innumerable varieties of beautiful plants.
All the varied species of Calceolaria, however different in appearance,
intermix with the greatest readiness, and the hybrids are all more or
less fertile. But the most remarkable case is that of two species of
Petunia, of which Dean Herbert says: "It is very remarkable that,
although there is a great difference in the form of the flower,
especially of the tube, of P. nyctanigenaeflora and P. phoenicea the
mules between them are not only fertile, but I have found them seed much
more freely with me than either parent.... From a pod of the
above-mentioned mule, to which no pollen but its own had access, I had a
large batch of seedlings in which there was no variability or difference
from itself; and it is evident that the mule planted by itself, in a
congenial climate, would reproduce itself as a species; at least as much
deserving to be so considered as the various Calceolarias of different
districts of South America.
Pages:
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311