[pbs] DNA of Scilla peruviana

totototo at telus.net totototo at telus.net
Tue Aug 12 18:35:41 EDT 2008


On 11 Aug 08, at 8:56, David Ehrlich wrote:

> Wild triploid?  How does it reproduce?

By vegetative means, probably the formation of daughter bulbs.

AFAIK (as far as I know) this is a fairly common scenario among geophytes.

Brodiaea howellii (which has some other name now) occurs only at one site on 
Vancouver Island, according to my botanical friends. I collected a few tiny 
bulbs from that site many years ago and (foolishly, as it happened) planted 
them in a raised bulb bed.

Over the years, very few flower stems have formed, none have set seed, but 
underground the soil is filled for several feet in all directions with offsets 
formed at the ends of stolons or rhizomes.

No DNA analysis to confirm my suspicion, but the behavior strongly suggests 
I've got a sterile triploid form.


-- 
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate

on beautiful Vancouver Island


More information about the pbs mailing list