"The colonies in North Africa were of the type that allowed the gene to surface and were thus fragrant. " John - this still isn't a reason to counter pollinator selection pressure in North Africa for fragrance. Or do you not believe in natural selection? Alan Meerow ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Bryan" <johnbryan@worldnet.att.net> To: <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2004 12:47 PM Subject: [pbs] Fragrance > Dear All; > > Mary Sue posed a question regarding fragrance in some plants in the same > species having fragrance and others of the same species not having any > fragrance. > > I do not think this has anything to do with pollinators, rather > geographic variation. I remember discussing this with Professor > Doorenbos in Wagening, The Netherlands, back in 1956, when I was living > and studying in The Netherlands. He told me that Cyclamen hederifolium > from North Africa had a distinct fragrance, while others from other > regions of the Mediterranean did not. His opinion was that the gene > carrying the fragrance character was present in all of the species but > recessive. The colonies in North Africa were of the type that allowed > the gene to surface and were thus fragrant. No doubt other colonies with > fragrant flowers were to be found in isolated pockets within the natural > range of the plants, but all from North Africa were fragrant. This seems > to me to be a logical reason. If it were due to pollinators the > variations and ability to adapt to a particular habitat would mean that > even greater variances in fragrance would be apparent. Cheers, John E. > Bryan > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > >