Jump to content
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT LOGGING IN ×
  • WELCOME GUEST

    It looks as if you are viewing PalmTalk as an unregistered Guest.

    Please consider registering so as to take better advantage of our vast knowledge base and friendly community.  By registering you will gain access to many features - among them are our powerful Search feature, the ability to Private Message other Users, and be able to post and/or answer questions from all over the world. It is completely free, no “catches,” and you will have complete control over how you wish to use this site.

    PalmTalk is sponsored by the International Palm Society. - an organization dedicated to learning everything about and enjoying palm trees (and their companion plants) while conserving endangered palm species and habitat worldwide. Please take the time to know us all better and register.

    guest Renda04.jpg

Question about variegated palm's progeny


Sim01

Recommended Posts

Hello,

I would like to know if some of you bred or have been growing seeds from variegated palms. I have found a variegated W. robusta in a public planting, it sets seeds every year and I was wondering if it would be worth the try to harvest the thousands of one leaf seedlings growing under it. Then make them grow so that hopefully some of them will show variegation. These seedlings are soon to be weeded by the city anyway.

I think that Washingtonia are self fertile but the area being windy, full of pollinators and of other Washingtonia I guess that everything got mixed.

I have seen "variegated" seeds for sale a couple of times and was wondering if any of you bought some and what were the results?

From what I read on the internet, variegation isn't a classic mutation following Mendel's laws but a chimeral mutation. So I wonder if there are any chances that the offspring comes variegated or if the probabilities would be the same as growing normal seedlings by the thousand and having one appear variegated randomly?

Thanks

Simon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have some variegated foxy lady palms. Which is not uncommon. Neither of the parent palms were variegated about 10 percent of the seed germinated came out this way.

post-1930-0-74805600-1406029758_thumb.jp

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe the hybridation brought genes that help variegation to occur? Do you know if it is a common thing to get 10% of variegated seedling for this hybrid?

And the last question: Is the variegation visible on the first leaf or does it just show up on the subsequent leaves?

Thanks for your input

Simon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From what I gather it is common to get variegation on the foxy lady hybrid. I am sure the percentage varies. Some of mine only have variegation on one leaf. Some have variegation on all. I have heard of people trying to germinate seed from variegated palms and trying to germinate them. I have not heard what the end result was.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't speak for Washingtonias or Foxy Ladies but, in general, the chances of getting variegated offspring from variegated palms is minuscule. For example, variegated Sabals produce variegated seedlings at the rate of 1 or 2 per 1,000 seeds - if you are lucky. Seed sellers won't tell you that. When I was a newbie I paid a healthy sum for 100 variegated Sabal palmetto seeds but got only green seedlings. Never again.

That said, if you are able and willing to collect 1,000s of seeds and seedlings and cull out the losers, there is a good chance you will come up with a variegated palm or two. Of course, this assumes the parent palm has a gene mutation for variegation and not something else going on. Some people believe variegation in some plants isn't genetic but caused by a virus. I have no idea whether that is true or not.

Meg

Palms of Victory I shall wear

Cape Coral (It's Just Paradise)
Florida
Zone 10A on the Isabelle Canal
Elevation: 15 feet

I'd like to be under the sea in an octopus' garden in the shade.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for your answers.

As far as I know there are different kind of "variegation". Indeed the viral one exists, such as in many flowers such as rose but can also be the sign of a disease. Then you have mutations that will affect the leaves with different colors, such traits are genetic and are likely to be transmitted to the next generation (some species naturally have variegation, like Lanonia dasyantha and several non palm species). The one we commonly refer, mainly because it is rare on palms and not easy to propagate, is the chimeric variegation. Which means that the meristem bears two different types of cells, the normal one and the one that cannot produce chlorophyl, that's why the variegation appear randomly on the leaves.

If I am not mistaking, seeds from variegated Clivia give variegated seedlings. I would guess that the seed itself have to be chimeric for the variegation to occur. Since Erik said that there was a relatively good percentage of variegated seedlings of Foxy Lady (well 2-3% is still better than 0,1%) there must be something that triggers the phenomenon.

I am just a bit hesitating because I don't know if I want to remove all these robusta seedlings and end up with 2000 green robusta!

Thanks for your opinions

Simon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...