The laws of heredity : their definite meaning and interpretation / editor: Henry Smith Williams, M.D., LL.D.

Date:
[1914]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The laws of heredity : their definite meaning and interpretation / editor: Henry Smith Williams, M.D., LL.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    20/32 page 18
    ment, Mr. Burbank discovered that it is possible to hybridize species that are seemingly quite divergent, and that the results are often very striking. He brought together plants from differ- ent continents, and found that in many cases they would interbreed. For example, he hybridized the Siberian rasp- berry with the California dewberry, producing a remarkable new fruit which he called the Primus berry. Everyone is familiar with the conspicuous differences between a raspberry and a blackberry. To mention only one of them, the raspberry leaves its receptacle on the vine when picked, while the blackberry retains the receptacle as part of the fruit. It at once becomes an interesting question as to how these divergent qualities are harmon- ized in hybridized offspring. In point of fact, inspection of the hybrid Primus berry shows that each parent strove to transmit its own peculiarity as regards this matter of the receptacle. The result is that the Primus berry, if plucked just at the moment when it is approaching maturity, acts like a_ blackberry, bringing away the receptacle as part of the fruit. But if the fruit is left on the vine until a little past the moment of maturity, it shows the property of the raspberry, leaving the receptacle on the [18]
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