The Foundations of the Origin of Species: Two Essays written in 1842 and 1844Darwin, Charles
Philosophy
The Foundations of the Origin of Species: Two Essays written in 1842 and 1844
Darwin, Charles
Evolution (Biology); Natural selection
It is very doubtful whether the flowers and leaf-buds, annually produced
from the same bulb, root, or tree, can properly be considered as parts
of the same individual, though in some respects they certainly seem to
be so. If they are parts of an individual, plants also are subject to
considerable changes during their _individual_ lives. Most
florist-flowers if neglected degenerate, that is, they lose some of
their characters; so common is this, that trueness is often stated, as
greatly enhancing the value of a variety{188}: tulips break their
colours only after some years' culture; some plants become double and
others single, by neglect or care: these characters can be transmitted
by cuttings or grafts, and in some cases by true or seminal propagation.
Occasionally a single bud on a plant assumes at once a new and widely
different character: thus it is certain that nectarines have been
produced on peach trees and moss roses on provence roses; white
currants on red currant bushes; flowers of a different colour from that
of the stock, in Chrysanthemums, Dahlias, sweet-williams, Azaleas, &c.,
&c.; variegated leaf-buds on many trees, and other similar cases. These
new characters appearing in single buds, can, like those lesser changes
affecting the whole plant, be multiplied not only by cuttings and such
means, but often likewise by true seminal generation.
{188} <It is not clear where the following note is meant to come>:
Case of Orchis,--most remarkable as not long cultivated by
seminal propagation. Case of varieties which soon acquire, like
_AEgilops_ and Carrot (and Maize) _a certain general character_ and
then go on varying.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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