Speaking of Brunsvigia....

J.E. Shields jshields@indy.net
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 08:06:29 PST
Hi Jim W. and all,

I don't know much of anything about Brunsvigia; but I did see, some 25-30 
years ago, some wide intergeneric hybrids in the Amaryllidaceae.  They were 
all produced by embryo rescue.  The plants looked vaguely distorted, both 
leaves and flowers.  One I recall was Crinum X Hippeastrum.  That work was 
done by Margot Williams at a USDA experimental station outside Washington 
DC in the 1970s.

I would have to say that, without documentation proving the bigeneric 
nature of the plant (chromosomes, DNA, how was it produced?), we should 
assume it is NOT an intergeneric plant.  Plants that are self-fertile or 
prone to apomixis can easily produce seeds that do not contain exogenous 
DNA.  Clivia are notorious for producing so-called Clivia-Lycoris hybrids, 
that look just like Clivia.

I'd take all such claims with a carload of salt until the claimant produces 
scientific evidence.  Wishful thinking can lead to abundant self-delusion 
otherwise.

Best wishes,
Jim Shields
in central Indiana (USA)


At 08:17 AM 12/13/2007 -0600, you wrote:
>Dear Friends and Brunsvigia experts of all sorts,
>
>         This picture of a 'Brunslycori' from a Japanese nursery is
>very interesting, but I doubt its authenticity.
>
>                 http://www.komoriya.co.jp/brunslycori.html
>
>         As a primary hybrid between two very distinct genera, I see
>NO HINT of Lycoris in this flower head.  .....

*************************************************
Jim Shields             USDA Zone 5             Shields Gardens, Ltd.
P.O. Box 92              WWW:    http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA
Tel. ++1-317-867-3344     or      toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA



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