Early results from cross-breeding Les Hannibal's Amaryllis
totototo@telus.net (Mon, 13 Sep 2010 05:21:08 PDT)
On 12 Sep 2010, at 23:08, Michael Mace wrote:
I am not a professional plant breeder, but I wanted to see if I could make
some improved forms from the bulbs Mr. Hannibal gave me: match the superior size
of one plant with the color of another, stuff like that. So I started making
crosses. Now 10 years later, the first of those crosses are finally blooming.
I am trying to figure out what controls flower color in these plants, based on
the limited knowledge of genetics I got from taking a couple of bio courses in
college. In other words, I am a rank amateur, and I'm getting really confused
because the flowers don't appear to be acting the way the textbooks say they
should.
The genetic control of flower color is very complex, almost certainly varying
from family to family, perhaps even from species to species. The key thing to
understanding your own confusion is that this is not simple Mendelian genetics
involving only one gene with multiple alleles.
Beyond that, you will have to search the scientific literature for the gory
details.
--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada