atavists

Updated: June 3, 2025

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.

Hugo de Vries - Species and Varieties, Their Origin by Mutation

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.

Hugo de Vries - Species and Varieties, Their Origin by Mutation

Everywhere gardeners are occupied in destroying these "atavists," as they call them. When in full bloom the plants are pulled up and thrown aside. Sometimes the degree of impurity is so high, that great piles of discarded plants of the same species lie about the paths, as I have seen at Erfurt in the ease of numerous varieties of the Indian cress or Tropaeolum.

Hugo de Vries - Species and Varieties, Their Origin by Mutation