This hybrid remains true to the description given. In some years I
cultivated two generations [260] so as to be able to compare them with
one another, but did not find any difference. The most interesting point
however, is the likeness between the first generation, which obviously
must combine in its internal structure the units of both parents, and
the second and later generations which are only of a derivative nature.
Next to this stands the fact that in each generation all individuals are
alike. No reversion to the parental forms either in the whole type or in
the single characteristics has ever been observed, though the leaves of
some hundreds, and the spikes and flowers of some 150 individual plants
have been carefully examined. No segregation or splitting up takes
place.
Here we have a clear, undoubted and relatively simple, case of a true
and pure species hybrid. No occurrence of possible varietal
characteristics obscures the result, and in this respect this hybrid
stands out much more clearly than all those between garden-plants, where
varietal marks nearly always play a most important part.
From the breeder's point of view our hybrid _Oenothera_ would be a
distinct gain, were it not for the difficulty of its propagation. But to
enlarge the range of the varieties this simple and stable form would
need to be treated anew, by [261] crossing it with the parent-types.
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