Hawes-Marcotrigiano from the past
I was doing a search for Marcotrigiano articles and came up with the
following message from the plant tc listserve by Jim Hawes:
From: Jim Hawes <hawesj@gcnet.net>
After a study type read (four times) of Dr. Marcotrigiano's Article in
Hort Science Vol. 32(5), August 1997, entitled "Chimeras and
Variegation: Patterns of Deceit", I am convinced that Dr Marcotrigiano
is one of the leading authorities on Chimeras. I also note that his
article made no reference to chimeras in Hostas or micropropagation of
Hostas. This Genus is now the most popular shade garden perennial in
American gardens. Since it is notoriously slow using conventional
propagation methods, its recent popularity is attributed largely to the
handful of commercial tc labs who have rapidly propagated the hundreds
of new cultivars recently appearing on the market.
Also because of the high incidence of chimeral and other type bud sports
in the Genus, even more new cultivars are appearing on the scene daily.
Among them are chimeral forms that are known as "streaked", unstable,
striated types. These appear as longitudinal, alternating green/white or
green/yellow patterns of L1 and L2 tissue in leaves. They are highly
prized as "breeding pod parent plants" because of their ability to
produce a high percentage of variegated seedlings.
My inquiry to Dr. Marcotrigiano, addressed openly to the plant tc
lineserve to benefit the entire readership is, COULD YOU DESCRIBE THE
CAUSAL FACTORS for these unique, morphological variants found both in
gardens and in tc labs? They have been called by some in the scientific
literature , mosaic type variegation plants ,suggesting they may not be
chimeras. They appear to me to be chimeras, since they are streaked when
they are juvenile but they (new divisions from rhizomes) readily change
to mericlinal and periclinal chimeral forms as well as monocolored forms
when they mature. Could you comment please to allow a tc lab operator to
benefit by a better understanding of morphological and histological
changes that may be occurring in these bud sports when tc'ing hostas?
Thank You.
Jim Hawes
Potomack Tree Farm
hawesj@gcnet.net
Preston Littleton ( plittleton@ce.net )
Seaford DE
zone 7
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