Stocks, liver-leaf (_Hepatica_), dame's violet (_Hesperis_), Sweet
William (_Dianthus barbatus_), and periwinkles (_Vinca minor_) seem to
be in the same condition, as their striped varieties were already quoted
[323] by the writers of the same century. Tulips, hyacinths, _Cyclamen_,
_Azalea_, _Camellia_, and even such types of garden-plants as the meadow
crane's-bill (_Geranium pratensev) have striped varieties. It is always
the red or blue color which occurs in stripes, the underlying ground
being white or yellow, according to the presence or absence of the
yellow in the original color mixture.
All these varieties are known to be permanent, coming true during long
series of successive generations. But very little is known concerning
the more minute details of their hereditary qualities. They come from
seed, when this is taken from striped individuals, and thence revert
from time to time to the corresponding monochromatic type. But whether
they would do so when self-fertilized, and whether the reversionary
individuals are always bound to return towards the center of the group
or towards the opposite limit, remains to be investigated. Presumably
there is nowhere a real transgression of the limits, and never or only
very rarely and at long intervals of time a true production of another
race with other hereditary qualities.
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