Good morning, I am wondering if those seedlings lack chloroplasts and chlorophyll entirely or if it they are so scarce that the green is not visible for the naked eye. As no one would cut a precious seedling apart, I am not sure there where any microscopic studies. This would be a way to establish if the apparently bleached cotyledons or first leaves are just doing there photosynthesis on a quite low level, but be therefore on the other hand invisible to herbivores? Martin Nickol Am 11.02.2021 um 23:24 schrieb rw2229 via pbs <pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net>: > On Mon, 1 Feb 2021 at 05:32:03 -0800, Kathleen Sayce <kathleen.sayce@gmail.com> wrote > >> I am curious to know how typical it is for seedlings in monocot groups to have no chlorophyll. >> >> This fall I noticed a tall Agapanthus in my garden had a few seeds on the stalk, so I gathered >> those that were left and sprouted them on a window sill, along with seeds from a Watsonia. So >> far, 14 of the 16 Agapanthus have chlorophyll, 2 do not, 12.5 percent. The Watsonia pot has 12 >> seedlings, 11 have chlorophyll, 8.3 percent. >> >> 12.5 percent seems high for a known fatal condition among photosynthetic species. >> >> How common is this condition? > > I suspect more common among monocots than any of us realize. I've grown bamboo from seed (on those rare occasions when any is set), and iirc a good 50% of the seedlings lack chlorophyll. > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net>