New plants – where do they come from? Part Two

The story of the origin of Campanula ‘Royal Wave’ is rather different from that of Gaillardia aristata ‘Amber Wheels’, which I discussed in my last post. ‘Royal Wave’ is a tetraploid mutation of ‘Samantha’ created in the laboratory. Wait… I’ll explain.

Campanula ‘Samantha’ turned up as a chance self-sown seedling at Collector’s Nursery, in Washington state and is thought to be a hybrid between C. x pseudoranieri and C. carpatica. ‘Samantha’ was propagated by tissue culture in the laboratory by TerraNova Nurseries and they created ‘Royal Wave’ by treating the very young plant material of ‘Samantha’ in tissue culture with colchicine. Derived from colchicum bulbs, colchicine has the ability sometimes to double the chromosome count of the plant material with which it is treated.

A number of plants were derived from the treatment, they were grown on and assessed and one was chosen; it was named ‘Royal Wave’.

Doubling the chromosome count to create a tetraploid usually produces a plant with more vigor, more robust leaf and flower tissue, and often with slightly larger leaves and flowers.

In this case the resulting plant develops into a rounded mound carrying as many as 230 upward facing flowers, each 2in across, and a lovely bluish purple with a pale centre. It sets no seed so just keeps on flowering. So science is good too.

Comments

[Kris at Blithewold]

A frankenflower? I LIKE it!

But is there any way to know when a plant is a tetraploid mutation? It doesn't sound like something growers would put on the tag... And is there a down-side to making and selling this kind of mutation? I'm thinking about The Bees...

[Joanna]

These posts made me look twice in the bookshop at a book called Seed to Seed by Nicholas Harberd - botany, diary, philosophy. He's a high-powered botanist researcher, and the book explains how plants grow. I wouldn't have picked it up without you getting my interest going - so thank you for that, as it's one of the best books I've ever read.

Joanna
joannasfood.blogspot.com

PS I don't know NH, and he's not paying me!

[Graham Rice]

Actually, these mutations happen naturally occasionally... so calling them frankenflowers is rather harsh. Many garden flowers and food plants are mutations of this sort and pose no danger to anyone. While to the bees, pollen is pollen and nectar is nectar - it makes no difference to them.

I confess, Joanna, that I've not read Seed to Seed. I'm glad that my posts took you to a book you enjoyed so much - I'll get hold of it myself.