Many capsules failed, and the remaining contained only
some few ripe seeds.
From these I had in the following year the second hybrid generation, and
in the same way I cultivated also the third and fourth. These were as
imperfectly fertile as the first, and in [258] some years did not give
any seed at all, so that the operation had to be repeated in order to
continue the experiment. Last summer (1903) I had a nice lot of some 25
biennial specimens blooming abundantly. All in all I have grown some 500
hybrids, and of these about 150 specimens flowered.
These plants were all of the same type, resembling in most points the
pollen-parent, and in some others the pistil-parent of the original
cross. The most obvious characteristic marks are afforded by the
flowers, which in _O. muricata_ are not half so large as in _biennis_,
though borne by a calyx-tube of the same length. In this respect the
hybrid is like the _biennis_ bearing the larger flowers. These may at
times seem to deviate a little in the direction of the other parent,
being somewhat smaller and of a slightly paler color. But it is very
difficult to distinguish between them, and if _biennis_ and hybrid
flowers were separated from the plants and thrown together, it is very
doubtful whether one would succeed in separating them.
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