A wide cross in "Liliaceae"

Joseph Seals thegardenguru@yahoo.com
Sun, 24 Jun 2012 11:26:04 PDT
This is what Burbank said in 
METHODS AND DISCOVERIES AND PRACTICAL APPLICATION 
PREPARED FROM HIS ORIGINAL FIELD NOTES COVERING MORE THAN 100,000 EXPERIMENTS 
MADE DURING FORTY YEARS DEVOTED TO PLANT IMPROVEMENT 

WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF The Luther Burbank Society 
AND ITS ENTIRE MEMBERSHIP UNDER THE EDITORIAL DIRECTION OF 
John Whitson and Robert John AND Henry Smith Williams, M« D., LL« D, 

Volume IX :

"Another interesting hybridization was that 
effected between the pardalinum and a species of 
the native trillium, a plant familiar in our woods 
under the name of drooping night-shade. 

The trillium is, of course, a lily, but, like 
Alstroemeria, it belongs to a different genus from 
the leopard lily, and its strikingly different appear- 
ance has already been referred to. 

The hybrids produced by this strange union 
were dwarfs with broad, lily-like foliage, with blos- 
soms that resembled those of the trillium — having 
three very broad, flat, greenish-white or yellow 
petals, and three narrower petals, like sepals. 

A plant that thus bore a close resemblance as to 
foliage and general appearance to the leopard lily, 
yet which had blossoms like those of the wake- 
robin (though somewhat larger and coarser) made 
a very striking and interesting exhibit. 

The species of trillium used in this cross was 
the common native Trillium ovatum. 

The hybrids, although in themselves so interest- 
ing, proved lacking in vitality, and notwithstanding 
my efforts all died — ^not, however, before I had 
secured photographs of the strange trillium-lily 
combination. 

Among all my experiments with the lilies* 
there is perhaps no other result quite as interesting 
as this hybridization with the trillium. Its results 
suggest the desirability of further experiments 
along similar lines. 

There is an almost boundless opportunity for 
new series of investigations with members of this 
very extensive group. The plants may readily be 
cross-fertilized by the amateur, and interesting re- 
results must follow almost as a matter of course."


Joe 

Joseph SealsConsultantArroyo Grande, CaliforniaCell: 805-823-5696
New book: "Central Coast Gardening Essentials"more info at: http://www.centralcoastkitchenandgarden.com /

--- On Sat, 6/23/12, Max Withers <maxwithers@gmail.com> wrote:

From: Max Withers <maxwithers@gmail.com>
Subject: [pbs] A wide cross in "Liliaceae"
To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Saturday, June 23, 2012, 9:31 PM

An article in last July's Pacific Horticulture about Luther Burbank's
work on Lilies mentioned almost as aside that Burbank successfully
crossed Lilium pardalinum and Trillium ovatum, although he was unable
to propagate the offspring. If I didn't actually gasp, I at least
whistled out loud when I read this, it seemed so unlikely. Further
internet research has reinforced my doubts, as I tracked down the
following chromosome counts:

Lilium pardalinum 2n=24

Trillium ovatum 2n=10

I don't see how such a cross would have been possible, but I have a
feeble grasp of genetics, math, and plant breeding,   Can anyone
correct me?

Best,
Max Withers
Oakland CA

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