Mirabilis jalapa

John Grimshaw j.grimshaw@virgin.net
Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:36:13 PDT
The multicoloured flowers of Mirabilis jalapa (pronounced, invariably, in 
England with a J :) ), in whatever form they are (i.e several colours in one 
flower or different coloured flowers on the same plant), are caused by 
transposons or jumping genes. See Wikipedia for further info on how they 
work. Essentially they cause mini-mutations during the colour production 
process.

Jim Waddick mentioned Ipomoea 'Flying saucers' and roses as other plants 
with similarly flaky flowers, but one could add Geranium pratense 'Striatum' 
and various antirrhinums to the list. Other factors causing variation in 
flower colour may be virus, as in tulips (which probably works in much the 
same way as transposons) and possibly tissue chimaeras.

John Grimshaw


Dr. John M. Grimshaw
Sycamore Cottage
Colesbourne
Cheltenham
Gloucestershire
GL53 9NP

Tel. 01242 870567
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "piaba" <piabinha@yahoo.com>
To: <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, September 14, 2008 8:04 PM
Subject: [pbs] Mirabilis jalapa


> but, john, what causes this phenomena?  the ones that produce both color 
> flowers are in one particular corner.  all others i have seen are just 
> magenta-flowered.  is it a virus like the streaked tulips?
>
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> tsuh yang
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