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Re: Variegated hosta from seed

Variegated plants are almost always chimeras.  What's a chimera?  Re-read
Greek mythology (at least I think it's Greek --- and everyone says: "It's
all Greek to me"). Chimeras were monsters that were part man, part beast. 
A centaur is a chimera, as is a griffin.  

In plants, chimeras are tissue combinations of different genetic
backgrounds.  The mutations that create chimeral plants rarely include the
germ cells (the cells that produce sperm / pollen or egg / seed).  These
mutations are usually in the surface layer, although sometimes are deeper
into the plant tissue.  If the mutation is in the surface layer, and not in
the germ cells, then the germ cells remain unmutated (in this case, green).
 Green germ cells will produce green plants.  

The same phenomenon occurs with taking cuttings from variegated plants. 
Stem cuttings will frequently send up green sprouts.  Leaf cuttings will
usually send up green shoots.  And it's all for the same reasons.  If the
variegation mutation is in the surface layer, the shoots (which generally
result from a deeper tissue layer) will emerge green.  If the mutation is
in a deeper layer, the shoots may emerge variegated.  If the mutation is in
the germ cells, the seeds (assuming self-pollination) will produce
variegated plants.

There is a chimera in the botanical literature that occurred when a Solanum
species was grafted onto a tomato (Lycopersicon) plant.  One sprout from
the graft union apparently had the surface layer of the Solanum, but the
inner layers were tomato.  What was interesting was that the Solanum was
insect-resistant (as many of them are, thanks to the glandular hairs) and
so was the chimera.  

Botanists classify chimeras based on the distribution of the mutated
tissues.  For this discussion, I am choosing not to get into all of the
detail.  

[Tom, let's consider this thread as a FAQ]

----------
> From: DAVID SIMS <sims@dmi.net>
> To: seeds-list@eskimo.com
> Subject: Re: Variegated hosta from seed
> Date: Friday, May 09, 1997 12:05 AM
> 
> Variegated Hosta seedlings rarely occur with most parents.  Paul Aden,
> in "The Hosta Book" describes a situation where 15,000 Francis Williams
> seeds resulted in ONE variegated seedling.  There are certain parents
> that will give vareigated seedlings - those with a certain type of
> "splotched"  pattern in the leaves.  Hosta specialists generally list
> plants that can be used for  obtaining variegated seedlings.
> David Sims
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