[150] But the diversity of the color patterns is far from being
exhausted with these simple instances. Apart from them, or joined to
them, other complications are frequently seen, which it is impossible to
analyze in such an artificial way. Here we have to return to our former
principle, the comparison of different varieties. Assuming that single
units may be lost, irrespective of the others, we may expect to find
them segregated by variation, wherever a sufficiently wide range of
color-varieties is in cultivation. In fact, in most cases a high degree
of dissimilarity may be reached in the simplest way by such a separation
of the components, and by their combination into most diverse smaller
groups. A very nice instance of such an analysis of flower-colors is
afforded by the ordinary snapdragon. The beautiful brown red color of
this common garden-plant is composed on one side of yellow elements, on
the other of red units. Of the yellow there are two, one staining the
whole corolla with a light hue, as is to be seen in the pure yellow
variety called _luteum. This form has been produced by the loss of the
whole group of the red constituents. If the yellow tinge is also lost,
there arises a white variety, but this is not absolutely colorless, but
shows the other yellow constituent. This last stains only some small
parts [151] of the lips of the flower around the throat, brightening, as
it seems, the entrance for the visiting insects. In many of the red or
reddish varieties this one yellow patch remains, while the general
yellow hue fails. In the variety called "Brilliant" the yellow ground
makes the red color more shiny, and if it is absent the pure carmine
tinge predominates.
It is readily seen, that in the ordinary form the lips are of a darker
red than the tube. This evident dissimilarity indicates some complexity.
And in fact we have two varieties which exhibit the two causes of this
attribute separately. One of them is called "Delila," and has the red
color limited to the lips, whilst the tube is pure white. The other is
called "Fleshy," and is of a pale pink throughout the whole corolla.
Adding these two units to one another, we get the original dark red of
the wild type, and it may be briefly stated here, that the way of
effecting such an addition is given us in the crossing of the "Fleshy"
and the "Delila" variety, the hybrid showing the two colors and
returning thereby to the old prototype.
Other cases of compound flower colors or of color patterns might be
given as in the _Mimulus_ and the poppy, and in most of these cases some
varieties are to be seen in our gardens which show only the single
constituents of the group.
[152] Many dark flowers have an intermediate bright hued form besides
the white variety, as in the case of roses, asters, _Nicandra_ and so
on.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account