The same anomaly occurs in other plants. The common wall-flower
(_Cheiranthus Cheiri_) and the houseleek (_Sempervivum tectorum_) are
the best known instances. Both have repeatedly been described by various
investigators. In compiling the literature of this subject it is very
interesting to observe the two contrasting views respecting the nature
of this anomaly. Some writers, and among them Masters in his "Vegetable
Teratology" consider the deviations to be merely accidental. According
to them some species are more subject to this anomaly than others, and
the houseleek is said to be very prone to this change. Goeppert,
Hofmeister and others occasionally found the pistilloid poppies in
fields or gardens, and sowed their seeds in order to ascertain whether
the accidental peculiarity was inheritable or not. On the other hand De
Candolle in his "Prodromus" mentions the pistilloid wall-flowers as a
distinct [371] variety, under the name of _Cheiranthus Cheiri
gynantherus_, and the analogous form of the opium-poppy is not at all an
accidental anomaly, but an old true horticultural variety, which can be
bought everywhere under the names of _Papaver somniferum monstruosum_ or
_polycephalum_. Since it is an annual plant, only the seeds are for
sale, and this at once gives a sufficient proof of its heredity. In all
cases, where it was met with accidentally by botanists, it is to be
assumed that stray seeds had been casually mixed with those of other
varieties, or that the habit had been transmitted by a spontaneous
cross.
Wherever opportunity led to experiments on heredity, distinct races were
found to be in possession of this quality, while others were not. It is
of no use to cultivate large numbers of wall-flowers in the hope of one
day seeing the anomaly arise; the only means is to secure the strain
from those who have got it. With poppies the various varieties are so
often intercrossed by bees, that the appearance of an accidental change
may sometimes be produced, and in the houseleek the pistilloid warily
seems to be the ordinary one, the normal strain being very rare or
perhaps wholly wanting.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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