Sarrs and U.biloba

Barry Meyers-Rice (barry@as.arizona.edu)
Tue, 7 Jun 94 16:15:53 MST

>I got 4 lots of seed from Barry and sowed them 6 months ago.

>S. flava 'variously veined'. High rate of germination, vigorous seedlings
>S. flava 'B'. Moderate germination rate, mod growth compared to above
>S. alata as for S. flava' B'
>S. minor low germination rate, mod vigour

Fraser, I don't think I kept seeds from those batches, although I'm not
surprised at your experiences. If I remember right, the S.minor came
from a selfing, and these tend to germinate more poorly and with less
vigor.

Incidentally, don't be too literal in keeping track of those flavas as
flava `B'. I just labelled the baggies that to save time in describing
the cross I made. See, if you use that name `B' too much, people will
start thinking that's something special!

>Secondly Barry, are you doing a similar excercise in a few months? If so, as
>these ones have gone quite well I'd like to try some other spp.

I'll see when I get there. I may just drop the seeds into a few
seedbanks---it's much easier that way, and I don't have to worry about
all the little checks and that nonsense.

Oh! Last night I keyed out a newly flowering plant in the greenhouse. This
thing is _U.biloba_, a really sweet thing. Tiny leaves, but very distinctive.
The flower is the best part. While less than 1 cm long, the lower corolla lobe
is clearly two-lobed. This and basisolute bracts made the id a piece of cake.
The flower is intensely blue, much like a ``larkspur'' (_Delphinium_). It is
very pretty. Now I'll work on propagating it so I can send it out.

Barry