Plant variety

“ And yet the investigation that does not take into account varieties misses a large number of plants possessed of the most noteworthy and valuable individual traits. The question may be easily asked, Wherein lies the difference between a variety and a species? but the answer evidently is not so easy, when we consider that every individual plant varies in a degree from all other plants; and, to render it still more difficult, we find botanists very properly ignoring the existence of varieties that may have individual characteristics invaluable to the planter. ”

“ If the selection is carefully made, the grower will soon rejoice, because he will observe a larger and a larger number of plants approaching the type of plant he has been selecting for. In time practically the whole plantation will be coming "true to type," and he will have developed a new variety. ”

“ God gives the seed a body "as it hath pleased Him, and to every seed its own body."
It is true that what are called "varieties" can be produced among cultivated plants, as among birds and animals, by change of food and climate, and by care and training. The same plant will soon look very different if taken from a dry, sunny spot, and placed in a damp, shady corner. I have heard that if plants are moved from their home on the seashore, and placed in a dry, hot place, their thick, fleshy leaves will in time quite change their character, becoming thin and hairy. ”

“ In some cases, as in the last, these materials are harvested as they occur in the wild state,{147} but in the majority of instances the plants are not merely conserved, but cultivated; cultivation has led to selection of the best varieties; and continued selection has resulted in the production of forms often very different in appearance from the wild plants from which they originated. ”

“ These effects of changes of circumstances are so well known that botanists prefer not to describe garden plants, at least only those which have been newly cultivated.
“Is not cultivated wheat (Triticum sativum) only a plant brought by man into the condition in which we actually see it? Who can tell me in what country such a plant lives in a state of nature—that is to say, without being there the result of its culture in some neighboring region? ”

“ The external form and character of each plant, as it came from the hand of nature, was probably sufficiently peculiar to render it readily distinguishable from those of every other species: but varieties of soil, of climate, and of culture applied for other purposes, have so far mixed and confounded the primary characteristics of many species, that experiments, such as those above described, now afford probably the only source of decisive evidence. ”

“ There are several species hardy and well suited for flower-garden purposes, and, more advantageous still, distinct from each other. The effect afforded by them, when well developed, is equal to that of any hothouse plant that we can venture in the open air for the summer, while they are green and ornamental at all seasons. ”

“ According to him, species in general do not readily vary, but when they once begin to do so the new varieties, as every horticulturist knows, show a great inclination to go on departing more and more from the old stock. As the best marked varieties of a wild species occur on the confines of the area which it inhabits, so the best marked varieties of a cultivated plant are those last produced by the gardener. ”

“ The latter, when duly fertilized by being brought into contact with the "pollen" of the stamens, become "seeds," and are capable of growing up, when planted, into new plants. Now, the botanist will inform us that it is a matter of common experience to find some individual plants of a species with well-developed petals or blossoms, and other individuals of the same species with petals in a rudimentary condition, thus proving that the production of imperfect parts in flowers occurs as an ordinary event under our own eyes, and under the common conditions of plant-life. ”

“ In garden flowers, also, we see most striking results of continuous selection. By taking advantage of the tendency of stamens and carpels to change occasionally into petals, and of petals to increase in number, “double flowers” have been effected. When “doubling” is complete—that is, when the conversion into petals is thorough—no seed can of course be produced, and the plants must be propagated by cuttings. Different other slight natural variations, exaggerated by selection and cultivation, have been the source of innumerable “varieties” in our gardens. ”

“ From these species, crossed and recrossed in various manners, have sprung the vast number of different varieties now enumerated in catalogues, whose characteristics are so inextricably blended that the attempt to trace their exact parentage or to follow out their lineage has become impossible. The varieties at present cultivated vary in the most remarkable degree in size, colour, flavour, shape, degree of fertility, season of ripening, liability to disease and constitution of plant. ”

“ Actually what are ordinarily thought of as plants make up only a fraction of the great plant world. The fact that our familiar roadside and garden plants produce blossoms followed by a fruit and seed, such as peas and beans and all the ordinary flora of any region, separates them at once from that other large group of plants that do not. Common examples of the latter class are the green scum on the ponds, moss, seaweed, the rust on wheat, yeast, disease-causing bacteria, the smallest of all known plants, and many others. ”

“ But man does not really produce them. Such peculiarities—often surprising enough—now and then originate, we know not how (the plant sports, as the gardeners say) ; they are only preserved, propagated, and generally further developed, by the cultivator's skilful care. If left alone, they are likely to dwindle and perish, or else revert to the original form of the species. Vegetable races are commonly annuals, which can be kept up only by seed, or herbs of which a succession of generations can be had every year or two, and so the education by selection be completed without great lapse of time. ”

“ In order to the reception of the Professor’s theory, it is necessary to hold, in the first place, that the creation of each species of plant took place, not by repetition of production in various widely-separated centres, but in some single centre, from which the species propagated itself by seed, bud, or scion, across the special area which it is now found to occupy. ”

“ Critical field observations of plants in the wild state, supplemented by the cultivation side by side of species supposed to be distinct and by the lessons learned from experimental plant breeding, have developed the theory that many species, perhaps all, are composed of a greater or lesser number of races, differing from each other too little to cause them to be regarded as species, notwithstanding the fact that they may breed true from seed to such slight or trivial differentiations. ”

“ The different colours exhibited by the foliage of plants and the changes it undergoes during growth and decay, appear to be due to the general laws already sketched out, and to have little if any relation to the special requirements of each species. But flowers and fruits exhibit definite and well-pronounced tints, often varying from species to species, and more or less clearly related to the habits and functions of the plant. ”

“ It is usually one of the first desires of the intending planter to inquire about Varieties. It is one of the secondary things to be considered, however, for the first thing to do is to prepare the land, to determine whether one’s soil and site are adapted to the plant in question, and to discuss other matters of a general nature. When all the fundamental things are settled, then the question of Varieties, which is a special matter, may be taken up. Although the selection of Varieties is a very special matter, it is nevertheless essential to success or satisfaction in the growing of any plant. ”

“ If there are many species, another Key will lead to the species. While the illustrations are intended to represent characteristic specimens, too much dependence must not be placed upon them; the leaves even of the same plant vary considerably, and the different varieties, especially of a cultivated plant, vary widely. ”

“ Before we trespass on the domains of arboriculture, horticulture, or agriculture, under which heads the cultivation of useful or ornamental plants divides itself, some consideration is required of those plants which, quasi-wild, are usually included in accounts of the vegetation under the head of aliens, denizens, colonists, and so forth. ”

“ The Families, or Genera, are characterized by the analogy of all the parts of the flower or fructification. The Species are distinguished by the foliage of the plant; and the Varieties by any accidental circumstance of colour, taste, or odour; the seeds of these do not always produce plants similar to the parent; as in our numerous fruit-trees and garden flowers; which are propagated by grafts or layers.
The first eleven Classes include the plants, in whose flowers both the sexes reside; and in which the Males or Stamens are neither united, nor unequal in height when at maturity ”

“ Apart from the botanical interest of these diversities, as indications of the faculty of variation in plants, and possibly as clues to Adaptability to soil and locality. the genealogy and origin of the cultivated plant, their practical importance is very great. Some varieties are suited to hot, others to cold countries; some will flourish on one description of soil, others on another. ”

“ In fact there are in natural wild plants great differences between individuals, and when such plants are cultivated in good soil, where they have far more to eat than they require, the result is that they produce extraordinary and monstrous types. ”

“ Nowadays, the number of species cultivated, the innumerable forms of these which are grown, and the wide distribution{149} which these forms have attained, have resulted in the cultivated flora of a country like England being, so far as the higher plants are concerned, much larger than the native flora, even when all the plants which are grown under glass are left out of consideration. ”

“ The plants which have varied by buds belong to so many orders that we may infer that almost every plant would be liable to variation, if placed under the proper exciting conditions. These conditions, as far as we can judge, mainly depend on long-continued and high cultivation; for almost all the plants in the foregoing list are perennials, and have been largely propagated in many soils, under different climates, by cuttings, offsets, bulbs, tubers, and especially by budding or grafting. ”

“ When we take into consideration the multitude of species which compose the vegetable kingdom, even in any one country or climate, it is obvious that some arrangement, some regular mode of naming and distinguishing them, must be very desirable, and even necessary, for retaining them in our own memory, or for communicating to others any thing concerning them. Yet the antients have scarcely used any further classification of plants than the vague and superficial division into trees, shrubs and herbs, except a consideration of their places of growth, and also of their qualities. ”

“ Without recourse to the evidence afforded by the plants of past ages, we must always admit that our existing classification of the vegetable kingdom is an expression of real gaps which separate the several classes of plants from one another. On the other hand our recently acquired and more accurate knowledge of such genera as have been alluded to, has made us acquainted with types of plant structure which enable us to fill in some of the lacunae in our existing classification. ”

“ Not only among these present-day plants, but all through the story of the development of the plant kingdom, we have been reading and writing of the changes of form and structure, some of which have been of far-reaching consequences. It is clear enough that if new types of vegetation and different races of plants have come into being and so modified the complexion of the plant kingdom, those changes must have first arisen in individuals which had within them some capacity for change, and furthermore the ability to use the change to their advantage. ”

“ The species composing our flora have been seen mostly, not as individuals, but as portions of regiments and armies, particular plants being mentioned but seldom, where required for purposes of illustration. In the final chapter it will be well to abandon this collective treatment, and glance at a few individual species or genera or small natural groups which possess features of interest of one sort or another. ”

“ Whenever these variations tend towards greater productiveness, better quality or enhanced beauty, selection is again made of such specimens as give promise of supplying the wants and gratifying the desires of civilized man. The bettered conditions of the plant, by reason of man's effort, do not usually result in producing like variation along all lines. One part of the plant as the flower, the fruit, or the stem, varies more than the other parts. All this tends to break up a single type or stock into many varieties. ”

“ Our stock of European hardy plants (whether herbs or shrubs) is small, and consists of the commonest and oldest-fashioned things in cultivation. These, and every Californian, Oregon, and Texan plant of which you have duplicates to spare us (or seeds) , whether hardy or not,—these are the plants I am just now most desirous to accumulate. Greenhouse plants are scarcely less welcome, but of those I will write more particularly hereafter. ”