tetra snowdrops?
Mark BROWN (Fri, 04 Jan 2008 05:44:08 PST)

Dear Diane Whitehead,
i only know of the tretraploid form of rizehensis which multiplies like a weed and has fused twin headed flowers or frequently two or more flowers to a scape and many other infirmities.All other forms of this species can be excruciatingly slow.My original clone from Potterton & Martin in the early eighties has made a small clump after all these years.One form that I collected in turkey recently flowers in November every year for the last two years.Quite a surprise.it was growing very low down near the black sea compared to all other populations.It seems to grow well but slowly,better than my original P. & M. form.
25 different galanthus in full flower on the 30th of jan.Since then it is spiralling out of count.
Kind regards,
Mark W. Brown

Message du 03/01/08 23:58
De : "Diane Whitehead"
A : "Pacific Bulb Society"
Copie à :
Objet : [pbs] tetra snowdrops?

I've been scrutinizing my two snowdrop books in preparation for the
season.

In Snowdrops, by John Grimshaw and Aaron Davis, it was written that
Dr. Ben Zonneveld of Leiden University was measuring the amount of DNA
in snowdrop species and some cultivars, using Flow Cytometry.

In 2003, Zonneveld, Grimshaw and Davis, published an article about
this in Plant Systematics and Evolution.

Tetraploids were found in Galanthus transcaucasicus and hexaploids in
G. elwesii and G. lagodechianus.

I grow a lot of elwesii. Does this mean that some of them are likely
to be hexaploid? Would I look for the biggest ones?

I have read that some of the best-known snowdrops, like Magnet, are
triploid, which means they are sterile.

Is there a list somewhere of tetraploid snowdrop cultivars?

Diane Whitehead
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
maritime zone 8, cool Mediterranean climate
mild rainy winters, mild dry summers

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