Re: Subject ... debates, politics and Hostas
- To: hosta-open@mallorn.com
- Subject: Re: Subject ... debates, politics and Hostas
- From: M*@aol.com
- Date: Sun, 12 Nov 2000 19:29:15 EST
In a message dated 11/12/2000 7:56:38 AM Central Standard Time,
NardaA@aol.com writes:
<< My question is are there other
plants that have sets of chromosomes in the category that Andrew asks about
and do they reproduce freely? >>
Yes, there are-but right off the top of my head I can give a specific example.
Hosta species are all ready a polyploidic genus to begin with. The ancestor
that has given rise to the plants we call Hosta. Hostas have a very large
number of chromosomes with 60.
As plants evolve they some times tend to accumulate more genetic material
than animals do, and thus have higher gene counts and a greater occurrence of
polyploid species and forms.
I do not think that the use of polyploids is going to make to much of a
diffrent in Hosta breeding-not like it has for Hemerocallis.
What looks more promising is the use of odd taxa from China. Japan and Korea.
Some of the "newer" species look to have a wealth of genetic material that
breeds can incorporate into their breeding programs.
Since it appears that Hosta is a young genus, the species have not had the
time to develop ways to isolate them selves from each other and freely
interbreed.
With the current species existing as geographically isolated populations.
Paul
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE HOSTA-OPEN
