(no subject)

Barry Meyers-Rice (barry@as.arizona.edu)
Wed, 27 Oct 93 11:00:35 MST

Addenda Re: _P.pumila_

I just glanced over my last posting regarding colour types of _P.pumila_
and realized it could be misleading. Let me clarify.

The purple-flowered plants produce descendents which are exclusively
purple-flowered.

The yellow-flowered plants produce descendents of mixed type. Some
of the descendents bear yellow flowers, some bear white flowers.

The white-flowered plants produce descendents which to date appear to
be exclusively white-flowered.

I realized that my first posting could be misinterpreted to mean that
some descendents of yellow-flowered plants produce both yellow and white
flowers on the same plant. This is not what I meant.

It is interesting that a botanical variety must be something that breeds
true, that is, its descendents are like the parents. So the yellow-flowered
plant _P.pumila var. buswelii_ should do the same. Mine do not. Assuming
_P.pumila var. buswelii_ is a valid botanical entity (dangerous assumption
perhaps), then my yellow-flowered plants may not be that taxon. Using my
earlier nomenclature (Y=dominant yellow gene, w=recessive white gene),
then I could define:

_P.pumila_ YY= _P.pumila var. buswelii_
and
_P.pumila_ Yw= a yellow flowered _P.pumila_, and not _var. buswelii_.

I submit the above to our taxonomical and nomenclatural police on the
list with glee, and wait for them to destroy my logic! :)

B