Schizostylis/Hesperantha a confused genus--TOW
J.E. Shields (Thu, 20 Feb 2003 05:37:36 PST)
Hi all,
I have tried to grow Schizostylus here, and haad the cv. 'Big Mama' with a
large pink flower for a while. It bloomed, although quite late. It mights
still be there, but has not bloomed the last year or two. The species is
planted in a different spot and is probably much drier as well as somewhat
shaded -- at the east edge of a small grove of sumac trees. It has never
bloomed.
As for DNA, well, think about the tracking of disease-causing genes in
human families. There are differences between genetic individuals within
almost all species. While in the case of Schizostylus coccineus, all
cultivars may be of the same species, in other plant groups they may not
be. Clivias and Daylilies come to mind, for example. Moreover, in the
case of clivias, Keith Hammett's co-workers in New Zealand can distinguish
Belgian strain Clivia miniata from German strain C. miniata by DNA
analysis. There is tremendous potential, actually for probably the first
time ever for most plant genera, for identifying name-lost plants as old
cvs now, if any reference DNA is available for the original cultivar.
Is there any other species or hybrid in the genus Hesperantha that can
survive in cold climates? Are there any other cultivars of H. coccinea
that bloom earlier or are hardier than the species in cold climates? I'd
like to try some more varieties of South African irids for their hardiness
here in our cold, wet winters and hot, wet summer.
Using DNA results as grounds to move a plant from one group to another
seems to cause a lot of horticulturists a problem. To me it seems
supremely logical. Since the DNA is the essence of a living organism, and
indeed largely a record of its evolutionary history, it seems to me to be
the best possible evidence for classification of a species. But then, I'm
a biochemist, and neither a botanist nor a horticulturist.
Regards,
Jim Shields
in central Indiana, where the snow is starting to melt as the sun has come
out again
At 03:05 PM 2/19/03 -0800, Mary Sue wrote:
Dear All,
There hasn't been much response to Alan's Topic of the week,
Schizostylis/Hesperantha.
..................
I confess to knowing very little about how dna is used except that it
often leads to plants that I have finally learned to identify being
renamed but I am very intrigued with someone thinking they could tell the
difference between cultivars using this method. I guess I always assumed
that cultivars would all have the same dna as they would be the same species.
Mary Sue
*************************************************
Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd.
P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA Tel. +1-317-896-3925
Member of INTERNATIONAL CLIVIA CO-OP