Re: species true from seed?

In a message dated 01/11/2001 8:15:11 AM Central Standard Time, 
Blee811@aol.com writes:

<< Take a few grains of salt with this statement.  If the species are planted 
 near other species of the same genera, you could get interspecies crosses, 
 which would then of course not be true.>>

The above case is hybrid, as I stated hybrids do not come true to type.

 
 <<

We have also been shown lately in the daffodil community slides of species in 
 the wild.  In groups of the same species there is sometimes a wide variation 
 in form in color in that group.  And some can be quite ugly ducklings.  I 
 have no reason to believe this would not be true of other genera.
 
 Bill Lee
  >>
This is the definition of a species-populations are variable, take note of 
the last two lines of my e-mail.

Commercially produced seeds-tend to be improved forms of the species, larger 
flowers or brighter colors or shorter growing plants.

One of my favorite interests in plants is population dynamics.  

Bill your example of Daffodils, is a good one and is true for many genera 
that have been collected for many years.  A single clone of a population is 
never representative of the species.  When one buys a bulb or Hosta or Peony 
or any other "species" type plant-what they are getting is a clone 
representing that species. Most are going to be better forms than what one 
finds in the wild. The only way around this to raise a large population from 
seed collected from a few diffrent locations from natural populations.

I did not compose a complete dissertation on raising plants from seeds-that 
would take a book or two.  But if one uses some common sense, the information 
presented should provide some good basic guidelines.

Paul

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