So
for instance there are numerous flowers which are of a dark red or a
dark blue color, and which, besides a white variety, have a pink or a
pale blue form. Such pale varieties are of exactly the same value as
others, and on testing they are found to be equally stable. So for
instance the pink variety of the Sweet William (_Silene Armeria rosea_),
the _Clarkia pulchella carnea_ and the pale variety of the corn-cockle,
called usually _Agrostemma Githago nicaeensis_ or even simply _A.
nicaeensis_. The latter variety I found pure during ten succeeding
generations. Another notable stable intermediate form is the poppy
bearing the Danish flag (_Papaver somniferum Danebrog_). It is an old
variety, and absolutely pure when cultivated separately. A long list of
other instances might easily be given.
Many garden-varieties, that are still universally prized and cultivated
are very old. It is curious to note how often such forms have been
introduced as novelties. The common foxglove is one of the best
examples. It has a monstrous variety, which is very showy because it
bears on the summit of its raceme and branches, large erect cup-shaped
flowers, which have quite a different aspect from the normal
thimbleshaped side-blossoms. These flowers are ordinarily described as
belonging to the anomaly [164] known as "peloria," or regular form of a
normally symmetric type; they are large and irregular on the stems and
the vigorous branches but slender and quinate on the weaker twigs.
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