These stalks continue growing for a very long time, and for the
most part die without producing anything else than green fleshy scales.
This long-headed green dahlia originated at Haarlem some years ago, in
the nursery of Messrs. Zocher & Co. It was seen to arise twice, from
different varieties. Both of these were double-flowered, one a deep
carmine with white tips on the rays, the other of a pale orange tint,
known by the name of "Surprise." As they did not bear any florets or
seeds, they were quite sterile. The strain arising from the carmine
variety was kindly given to me by Messrs. Zocher & Co., and was
propagated in my garden, while the other was kept in the nursery. In the
earlier cultures both remained true to [231] their types, never
producing true florets. No mark of the original difference was to be
seen between them. But last summer (1903) both reverted to their
prototypes, bearing relatively large numbers of ordinary double
flowerheads among the great mass of green stalks. Some intermediate
forms also occurred consisting of green-scaled stalks ending in small
heads with colored florets.
Thus far we have an ordinary case of reversion. But the important side
of the phenomenon was, that each plant exactly "recollected" from which
parent it had sprung. All of those in my garden reverted to the carmine
florets with white tips, and all of those in the nursery to the pale
orange color and the other characteristics of the "Surprise" variety.
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