First picture is of the F1 Viola striata X walteri just starting to open a few blooms. I've had two F1 plants for over 10 years and they make a nice ground covering mat about a yard across each year. I trim the dead off in winter or early Spring and they're good to go for another year.
They are almost completely sterile but do make occasional seedlings that vary in color and growth habit. The next two pictures are of two that I'm keeping an eye on as possible "improvements". This first one has bunched up nicely and has more of the upright habit and white flowers of Viola striata. It's also shown a pretty reliable tendency to repeat in the Fall.
That sounds like the F1 is triploid. In this model, there would be very few viable F2s and they would likely be aneuploid.
ReplyDeleteI tried looking up the chromosome counts of Viola striata and V. walteri, but I didn't find anything conclusive.
Viola striata is tetraploid : http://www.amjbot.org/content/98/12/1978.full
DeleteViola walteri is diploid : http://www.io-net.com/violet/violet3/walteri(e).htm
Hi Darren,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the links!
I'd been under the impression that both species were 2n=20 but will have to see if I can figure out where I'd gotten that notion. Triploidy would certainly better fit the fertility behavior of the F1.
Thanks again, Tom