Colors that are not systematically present in the
group to which a white species belongs are only produced in its
varieties in extremely rare cases.
We may quote some special rules, indicated by Hildebrand. Blue species
are n the main very rare, and so are blue varieties of white species
also. Carnations, Asiatic or cultivated buttercups (_Ranunculus
asiaticus_), _Mirabilis_, poppies, _Gladiolus_, _Dahlia_, and some other
highly cultivated or very old garden-plants have not been able to
produce true blue flowers. But the garden-anemone (_Anemone coronaria_)
has allies with very fine blue flowers. The common stock has bluish
varieties and is allied to _Aubretia_ and _Hesperis_, and gooseberries
have a red form, recalling the ordinary currant. In nearly all other
instances of blue or red varieties every botanist will be able to point
out some allied red or blue species, as an indication of the probable
source of the varietal character.
Dark spots on the lower parts of the petals of some plants afford
another instance, as in poppies and in the allied _Glaucium_, where they
sometimes occur as varietal and in other cases as specific marks.
The yellow fails in many highly developed [242] flowers, which are not
liable to produce yellow variations, as in _Salvia_, _Aster_,
_Centaurea_, _Vinca_, _Polygala_ and many others.
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