It has two forms, differing only in the occurrence or
the lack of the ray florets. But these two varieties occupy different
localities and are even limited to different provinces. As far as I have
been able to ascertain on numerous excursions during a series of years,
they never sport, and are only intermingled on the outskirts of their
habitats. The rayless form is generally considered as the [158] variety
but it is quite as stable as the radiate species.
The radiate varieties of marigold, quoted in a former lecture, seem to
be equally constant, when growing far away from their prototypes. I
sowed the seeds of a single plant of the radiate form of _Bidens
cernua_, and found all of the seedlings came true, and in the next year
I had from their seed between 2,000 and 3,000 flowering individuals, all
equally radiate. Many species of composites have been tried, and they
are all constant. On the other hand rare sports of this kind have been
observed by Murr and other authors.
Many kinds of vegetables and of fruits give instances of stability.
White strawberries, green grapes, white currants, crisped lettuce,
crisped parsley and some other crisped forms may be cited. The spinage
without prickles is a widely known instance. White-flowered flax never
reverts to the blue prototype, if kept pure.
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