Alan; What do you understand "natural selection" to mean? How do you relate this to fragrance? Cheers, John E. Bryan Nolo Contendre wrote: > > "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 > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php