Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 66.djvu/221

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Some time since, a hybrid mesembryanthemum was developed, and lasted for four years, forming an attractive plant with a profusion of white flowers. Then all individuals, whereever located, died at once, doubtless because conditions were adverse: but there was no visible cause of soil, of insect pest, of fungus or of climate. These plants all died from the root up. A hybrid of petunia and nicotiana has abundance of flowers and a large vigorous leaves, but the roots are inadequate. A hybrid red poppy is formed by uniting the opium poppy with the oriental poppy. These hybrids bloom every day of the year, while the blooming season of either parent is only a few weeks, but they yield no seed. The seed capsules are developed in great variety, some of them four to six times as large as the capsules of either parent.