I had a number of young Emerald City plants that were about to bloom for the first time. What I was expecting was a flower that looked like the image below. And in fact, all the plants delivered that type of expected flower but one. By the way this image is from a piece I wrote earlier on self pollination of African violets which I see with some frequency with Emerald City. Click Here to see it
The one plant that bloomed differently exibited 3 bottom petals with a purple hue and the two top petals were pure white. As the flower matures the purple appears to lighten considerably. Is this a true chimera? Or has it lost it’s duel genetic expression and will replicate true from a leaf cutting? We shall see.
African violets are dicots. One of the implications of this is that the flower consist of 5 petals or multiples there of like 10,15 or 20 and so on. So why do I on occasion see six petal flowers? They are perfectly formed. After a number of years I seem to see a greater frequency of six petals chimera African violets with specific cultivars. Specifically Granger Sugar frost, Yachiyo Blue, Mauna Loa and on occasion in Shimai have demonstrated the six petals, some more frequent then others. Probably another that can be added to this list is Granger Red and White Stripe. One thing they all have in common is that the flower type is a “star form”. For detail as to flower types please refer to this informative link from the AVSA. Flower and leaf type
I have no answers to this question. The web seems to be yield no answers at all, but I will keep searching. Questions that immediately come to mind: 1) What is the frequency of the six petal bloom as a function of the number of five petal blooms? One in 100 or 1 in 200? There must be some ratio. 2) Is this only seen in the “star” type flower and devoid in the other flower types? 3) Maybe six petals are observed in all flower types but has different frequencies in different flower types? 4) Does it appear at different frequencies in different cultivars? 5) Is this a trait that can be selected for? I have questions and am looking for answers or observations.
April 16, 2012 – 12:01 am
This is the fourth document illustrating chimera African violets taken either from suckers or flower stems that have failed to produce the true chimera effect. That is why unless you purchase a plant in bloom or one that has bloomed true there is more then a zero probably that you may not be getting what you think you are. Although I will admit the variants may not always be bad. Case in point is one of the two Allegro Sundae Eclipse. I am sure you know which one. Click on the images below to enlarge them.
To see the other examples from earlier posts click Chimera African violets gone wrong.
I spent some time looking for an explanation of what makes chimera African violets different from the the other African violets. Either the explanation was over simplified to the point it was misleading and frankly provided no real explanation or were so complicated two paragraphs into the dissertation my eyes glazed over. So my goal was to find an explanation that was satisfying yet understandable. After searching the web for sometime I think one of the best explanations was found on the http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/violet/violet.html and a few others listed below. I took parts and pieces from the few best explanations and put the below explanation together.
So where do chimera African violets come from? How does it all start? Chimeras arise when one cell in the plant in a special area of the plant (near the top of the apical dome) undergoes a mutation. That mutation can just be spontaneous or it may be purposefully induced by chemicals or irradiation. If a cell mutates and it is located near the top of the apical dome (see the illustration below that shows the mutated cell), then all other cells which are produced from that mutated cell by division from it, will also be of the mutated cell type. What you then have are two genetically different cells residing together to make up the plant.
This image was taken from the "aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu" site. A wonderful site full of great horticulture information.
A question you may now have is OK, but what is apical dome? And where is it? Read More »
Allegro Sundae Eclipse is what I was expecting to see with a batch of bloom stalks I tissue cultured. And as can be seen in the below image that is what was produced from one of the stalks. A nice Allegro Sunday Eclipse. But what I was not expecting was the other plants that were produced from the same set of flower stalks.
This plant resembles Allegro’s Shameless minus the purple fantasy down the center of each petal. Rather a dark rose pink is expressed as if this plant is itself a chimera. Is it? I will be taking a leaf and a bloom stalk and propagating both to see what the outcome will be. The result will be posted on this blog. But there is another interesting observation. That of the degree of the bottom petal of the first bloom on each stalk is elongated and protrudes forward as compared to the lack of that shape and expression on the bottom petal of the second bloom.
A B
The image on the left (A) is the first bloom that appears on the stalk and the image on the right (B) is the second bloom on the stalk Seen from the side (A) you can appreciate the dimension to this plants blooms.< Read More »
February 15, 2012 – 12:01 am
As has been demonstrated repeatedly through out this blog, a cross between two Chimera African violets does not produce chimera African violet seeds or offspring. But it can produce some interesting outcomes. What I have done in this experiment is use a chimera African violet as the pollen plant and a non-chimera African violet as the seed parent. Both have very large blooms.
In less the 7 days it became obvious that the cross took and a seed pod started to form. This is the seed pod after 3 weeks (below). In total there are five seed pods from this cross developing. I think that will be more then enough to produce some interesting outcomes. As I have in the past, I will photograph the progeny of this cross as they bloom. I may have some extra seed available should anyone be interested in trying it themselves, as long as you promise to photograph the outcomes so it can be posted on this blog.
Seed pod after 3 weeks
February 1, 2012 – 12:01 am
Propagating chimera African violets from the flower stems in tissue culture generates a high degree of consistent results, but by no means is it 100%. The below images are plants derived from the same batch of flower stems from Titanic. The image directly below bloomed as expected true to color and form, double and semi-double flowers.
The image below is a bloom of a plant produced from a flower stalk that was adjacent to stalk that produced the plant in the above image. Both stalks bore perfectly formed Titanic blooms. The image below shows a flower that is white, single not double and the edges have both purple and green. Click on the image to see the details more clearly. Obviously not a chimera but never the less interesting.
Once again this illustrates that the acquisition of any chimera African violet without it being in bloom at least once to verify the traits of chimera-ism or better yet being in bloom at time of purchase can lead to disappointment.
January 15, 2012 – 12:01 am
The above and below images are of the F2 Yukako sport. As I try to get the lighting just right to reflect the true color of the green stripes on the write petal background you can seethe variation on different intensities in the green stripe.
As this is the F2, it has remained true to form in both plant leaf and shape and flower color. The F3 is already out of tissue culture culture and in a month or so should have it’s first flowering. If it (as I hope and expect) will demonstrate the same stability, the cultivar will be given a name and it will be registered with AVSA.
January 1, 2012 – 12:01 am
In the context of the web world, icon has taken on a different meaning then those of us over that magical and vague generational line where first consideration of the word held out the mental image of a great hero or a famous president (not to be confused with infamous president). I would think some of the chimera African violets are icons in that they set the bar for color and a very distinctive stripe pattern with perhaps very large flowers. In many respects, a subjective decision to be sure. But I am certain there would be general agreement that some of the chimeras do stand out above the rest. One of those in my opinion is Lyon’s Fortune Teller. It recently flowered for me and the flower was exceptional in many respects. From a very large size to nice contracting stripes, it was in my mind one of those iconic chimera African violets.
So to cerebrate this exceptional flower and to customize a boring desktop, I made icons out of this image. I have six of them available. The attached document link below provides description, direction and choices in obtaining these icons. They are yours free for the taking. No tricks, no cookies no nothing. Just one African violet grower to another wanting to share. This is the link to download the icons. Lyon’s Fortune Teller Icon’s
Here is another link for other Chimera African Violet Icons. These are not free like the previous link but are very inexpensive . All kind of blooms are available, Click Here
December 1, 2011 – 12:01 am
I notice when I want to purchase some African violets for my collection or sell some of my plants in those transition months of Nov-Dec and March-April where the day temperatures are cool and the evenings are just above freezing (>32 degrees F), buyers and sellers alike request heat packs be used. The question I had was, is that really necessary? Considering shipping of chimera and regular African violets is usually a 3 day (72 hr) process, cannot in the worse case situation, African violets be maintained at just above 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Centigrade) for 3 days? Is there really any damage done to the plants? I decided to do a little experiment.
I found a volunteer plant. I had a nice Yukako chimera African violet in bloom that would do well. I was so confidant in the outcome (as my hypothesis was that at about 37 degrees for 72 hours no effect would be noticed) I had no qualms about using a Yukako. I also obtained a small temperature monitoring device that I set to take the temperature every 5 minutes for the duration of the 72 hour experiment. Below is an image of the plant bloom and plant with measuring device just before it was placed into the refrigerator.
The plant and monitoring device prior to placing them in the refrigerator (below).
Plant and monitor are place in the refrigerator.
The door was closed and not opened for 72 hours. I used 72 hours since that is the typical shipping time. So what was the outcome? What did the plant look like? Can African violets survive temperatures for a 72 hour period near at 37 degrees F?… Read More »
