In order to ascertain what would be the effect of crossing two
varieties, some flowers on the Purple sweet-pea, which has a dark
reddish-purple standard-petal with violet-coloured wing-petals and keel,
were castrated whilst very young, and were fertilised with pollen of the
Painted Lady. This latter variety has a pale cherry-coloured standard,
with almost white wings and keel. On two occasions I raised from a
flower thus crossed plants perfectly resembling both parent-forms; but
the greater number resembled the paternal variety. So perfect was the
resemblance, that I should have suspected some mistake in the label, had
not the plants, which were at first identical in appearance with the
father or Painted Lady, later in the season produced flowers blotched
and streaked with dark purple. This is an interesting example of partial
reversion in the same individual plant as it grows older. The
purple-flowered plants were thrown away, as they might possibly have
been the product of the accidental self-fertilisation of the
mother-plant, owing to the castration not having been effectual. But the
plants which resembled in the colour of their flowers the paternal
variety or Painted Lady were preserved, and their seeds saved. Next
summer many plants were raised from these seeds, and they generally
resembled their grandfather the Painted Lady, but most of them had their
wing-petals streaked and stained with dark pink; and a few had pale
purple wings with the standard of a darker crimson than is natural to
the Painted Lady, so that they formed a new sub-variety.
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