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Post by taihaku on Apr 30, 2017 13:03:02 GMT -5
Hi all
Does anyone know anything about borage flower genetics. I've got some white-flowered seedlings coming up in the greenhouse and the normal blue self seeds here - I'm wondering what sort of seedling mix I can expect from seed saving next year. Ideally I'd wind up with a strain that is roughly 75% blue with a few whites coming up here and there which seems possible if we have a straight forward recessive dominant thing going on but I have no clue and I don't want my strain to become progressively all white....
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Post by philagardener on Apr 30, 2017 17:16:58 GMT -5
I've seen the white form but my own were always blue/pink range so I suspect that allele wasn't in my population. I would not expect it to dominate except by genetic drift (that is to say, chance, if you have a small population).
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Post by walt on Apr 30, 2017 17:51:40 GMT -5
I had some 4 o'clocks with red, yellow, and white flowers. Over 3 generations I lost most most of the reds. then one late evening I saw many moths pollinating them. And at the same time, I realized I could see the white and yellow flowers, but not the red. I think the moths saw the same flowers and weren't pollinating the reds.
My point is that populations of plants can change for reasons we can't always predict. Sometimes we can't even explain it afterword.
Just pay attention and see what happens, though asking here and elsewhere may get you responses from people who have experience with the same thing. Even then, you might get a different result in a different place.
Good luck with it.
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Post by templeton on May 2, 2017 6:52:56 GMT -5
this isnt just a temperature or environmental thing?
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Post by taihaku on May 2, 2017 7:27:17 GMT -5
this isnt just a temperature or environmental thing? my understanding is that the blue vs pink thing is environmental (perhaps like hydrangeas) but that white is a recessive genetic position. What I've read suggests that at least.
One interesting aspect of this is the degree of selfing - I would've expected it to be quite a promiscuous outcrosser but I've found an online paper abstract that suggests not.....:
"Abstract 
Borage, a species traditionaly defined as allogamous, has revealed a high selfing rate although a mechanism of protandry has been confirmed in this plant. Studies investigating flower behaviour showed that several flowers open every day and that others are also receptive at the same time within a plant. Moreover, pollinator behaviour, mainly by bees, contributes to the selfing rate because it is demonstrated that these insects visit several flowers in a given plant before flying to other plants. The ecological studies reported here reveal the contribution of geitonogamous pollination to the high selfing rate detected in Borago officinalis L."
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