Of course, in
the long run, the responses will be the same as those of the pistilloid
poppies on the average, and some influence of selection will show itself
on closer scrutiny.
Compared with the polycephalous poppies my race of twisted teasels is
much richer in atavists. They are never absent, and always constitute a
large part of each generation and each bed, comprising somewhat more
than half of the individuals. Intermediate stages between them and the
wholly twisted stems are not wanting, [406] and a whole series of steps
may easily be observed from sufficiently large cultures. But they are
always relatively rare, and any lot of plants conveys the idea of a
dimorphous race, the small twisted stems contrasting strongly with the
tall straight ones.
A sharper contrast between good representatives of a race and their
atavists is perhaps to be seen in no other instance. All the details
contribute to the differentiation in appearance. The whole stature of
the plants is affected by the varietal mark. The atavists are not, as in
the case of the poppies, obviously allied with the type by a full range
of intermediate steps, but quite distant from it by their rarity. There
seems to be a gap in the same way as between the striped flowers of the
snapdragon and their uniform red atavists, while with the poppies the
atavists may be viewed as being only the extremes of a series of
variations fluctuating around some average type.
Pages:
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398