Trapaeolum majus Burpeeii

The Golden Gleam appeared in the U. S. in 1932. Neither a fancy cocktail nor a crack train, the Golden Gleam, a product of Mexico, was a double nasturtium, bearing ten petals to the ordinary blossom's five. Alert David Burpee of Philadelphia's W. Atlee Burpee Co. saw here a fine chance--if seized vigorously-- to get ahead of his competitors. Sweet-scented but limited to its one glowing color, the Golden Gleam might be produced in various colors if crossbred with common nasturtiums.

Mr. Burpee at once launched a feverish program of hybridization. Forty thousand cross-breedings were made in eleven months. To keep the new generations growing continuously under the best possible conditions, seeds were shipped by airplane to Miami, California, Puerto Rico, Argentina, by fast steamer to Australia. In California alone, 100 Japanese girls were hired to do nothing but pollinate the blossoms. To prevent bees from messing up the experiments with promiscuous pollinations, it was found necessary to clip the petals. In January 1934 Mr. Burpee announced May delivery of seeds for the varicolored, ten-petaled hybrids, a whole growing season ahead of any other breeder.

Then came an unexpected reward for good work quickly done. Strolling contentedly among his third-generation hybrids, Mr. Burpee was astounded to spy a golden super-double hybrid nasturtium with nearly 60 petals and three inches across. This was the result of a chance mutation, an obscure dislocation of the hereditary mechanism of the sort that many a geneticist holds responsible for evolution. "The nasturtium was most carefully watched," said Grower Burpee, "in every stage of development. Every flower was examined and it was discovered that these super-double flowers were entirely female sterile. They kept on blooming and never went to seed." Because they are "female sterile," the flowers cannot be mated with one another. But not being "male sterile," their strain can be continued by using their pollen to fertilize the double hybrids. The 60-petaled super-double hybrids were shown in Manhattan last week at a special preview for horticulturists, to whom Mr. Burpee recounted the story of his find. The flower has been patented under the name Trapaeolum majus Burpeeii, Mr. Burpee being granted Plant Patent No. 141.

There was no such thing as a plant patent in the U. S. when Luther Burbank died in 1926. In 1930 President Hoover signed a bill enlarging the class of eligible patentees to include anyone "who has invented or discovered and asexually reproduced any distinct variety of plant other than the tuber-propagated plant." One patent covers an improved mushroom, another a pecan nut. Flowers account for more patents than edible plants, roses for the most flower patents, hybrid-tea shrubs for the most roses. Luther Burbank's heirs have patented some of his plums and peaches. Patent No. 19, for a coral-colored dahlia, was granted to Harold LeClair Ickes before he became Secretary of the Interior. He bred it at his home in Winnetka, Ill., named it "Anna W. Ickes" for his wife.

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