DNA of Scilla peruviana
totototo@telus.net (Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:35:41 PDT)

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

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