It is afforded by some plants the leaves of which, instead
of being entire or only divided into large parts, are cleft to a greater
extent by repeated fissures of the marginal lobes. Such foliar
variations are often seen in gardens, where they are cultivated for
their beauty or singularity, as the laciniated alders, fern-leaved,
beeches and limes, oakleaved laburnums, etc. Many of them are described
under the varietal name of _laciniata_. In some cases this fissure
extends to the petals of the flowers, and changes them in a way quite
analogous to the aberrancy of the leaves.
This is known to occur with a variety of brambles, and is often seen in
botanic gardens in one of the oldest and most interesting of all
anomalies, the laciniated variety of the greater celandine or
_Chelidonium majus_. Many other instances could be given. Most of them
belong to the [148] group of negative variations, as we have defined
them. But the same thing occurs also with positive varieties, though of
course, such cases are very rare. The best known instance is that of the
ever-flowering begonia, _Begonia semperflorens_, which has green leaves
and white flowers, but which has produced garden varieties with a brown
foliage and pink flowers. Here also the new quality manifests itself in
different organs.
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