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It is a very old, widely cultivated sort, which always comes true from seed, and which has been tested in repeated experiments in my garden. The spikelets of this curious plant are oneflowered and provided with two linear glumes or outer scales. Of the inner scales or palets, the outer one is three-lobed at the summit, hence the varietal name of Hordeum vulgare trifurcatum.
It is now generally assumed that this incomplete mixture of the parental qualities in a hybrid, this uncertain and limited combination is the true cause of the many deviations, exhibited by varietal hybrids when compared with their parents. Partial departures are rare in the hybrids themselves, but in their offspring the divergence becomes the rule.
Specific or varietal latency is not the same thing as the ordinary latency of characters that only await their period of activity, or the external influence which will awake them. They are permanently latent, and could well be designated by the word perlatent. They spring into activity only by some sudden leap, and then at once become independent of ordinary external stimulation.
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.
The complete development of the varietal character is a question restricted to ever-sporting varieties, since in white flowers and other constant varieties this degree is variable in a very small and unimportant measure. Hence the double flowers seem to afford a very good example for this discussion. It can be decided by two facts.
But as its distinguishing attributes, as far as we are concerned with them here, are of the nature described above as characteristic of varietal peculiarities no objection can be made to our using them as a case of correlative variability. The essential character of the purple thornapple lies in the color of the flowers, which are of a very beautiful pale blue.
It is never quite free from the old atavistic type of the trifoliolate leaves, and invariably, when external conditions become less favorable, this atavistic form is apt to gain dominion over the more refined varietal character. Reversions always occur, both partial and individual. Some instances of these reversions may now be given.
It is found in nearly all forests of any extent and often in relatively large numbers of individuals. It exhibits varietal characters, which have led to the recognition of several spontaneous forms, especially in France and in Germany. The differentiating qualities relate to the shape and indumentum of the leaves.
We may limit ourselves in the first place to the seeds of the unobserved hybrids. For the greater part they will repeat the character of their parents and still remain concealed. But a small number will display the varietal marks, as for example showing white flowers in a field of blue ones.
The varietal attributes themselves however, are more or less of a specific nature, and have no relation to the real industrial value of the race. The short-rooted and the horn-shaped varieties might best be cited as examples.
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