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[mauch1@aol.com]

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He often speaks of odd
flowering times,  sports of his names varieties (even
from one branch to the other), and wildly mis-shapened
fruit  that look more like the citrus Buddha's Hand.
Not to mention the whole haploid/triploid thing (which
I do understand fully) and male, female, and perfect
flowers (with out seeds???)

I have to ask are persimmons just geniticly unstable
or do their genes just mutate readily??
>>

I don't know that the sex changing thing has anything to

do with genetic instability, or any kind of gene change

at all. 

 

We tend to think of sex being XX and XY related,

but not all 'higher' animals work that way.  If I have my

facts write, birds are XX and XZ and the females are

the XZ.  Turtles sexuality is determined by temperature

at incubation.

 

Clown fish can change sex, and the largest clownfish

in a anenome becomes the female (which could put

a whole weird spin on "Finding Nemo", but we won't go

there.

 

I would guess that whatever determines sexuality in a

Persimmon is not 'locked in' by genes and environmental

conditions may affect the _expression_.  I would guess this

would give the trees a breeding 'out'.  I.e. Persimmon

doesn't appear to me to be the most common tree in

the forest, and if it were locked into its sexuality, it might

die out, but by occasionally inbreeding, it can continue

to exist as a minor element in forests.  (i.e. I would guess

that outbreeding is preferred, but not absolute).

 

If the tree is Hexaploid, that might also go to explain the

variants in sexual _expression_.  If a gene gets turned off

in a growning tip, it might allow a different sexual gene

to express itself. Also, some plants that are obligatory

outcrossers at diploid levels, the barriers are often weakened

at higher ploidy levels.

 

Chris Mauchline
SE PA, zone 6
40° 5' N 75° 51'W
~650 ft elevation