Heteroploidy and Somatic Variation in the Dutch Flowering Bulbs

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Abstract
Heteroploidy is common in Hyacinthus orientalis and in Narcissus pseudonarcissus and its cultivated hybrids, whereas most cultivated varieties of Tulipa gesneriana are diploid. In the triploid hyacinth Grand Maitre, variations in flower color, due to distribution and nature of anthocyanins, occur without change in chromosomal composition. Certain somatic color variations in tulips are ascribed to like variation in anthocyanin content and to changes in the carotin-bearing chromoplasts. The narcissi (e.g., N. pseudonarcissus and N. poeticus) lack dissolved pigments and are colored by chromoplasts, which may also show variations in color. Somatic variations in form in the Grand Maitre hyacinth, in parrot tulips, and in narcissi with splitting of the corolla, arise without changes in chromosomal composition. In rare cases hyacinths gave bud variations associated with altered chromosome numbers; and "dwarf types," showing color changes, with 18-21 chromosomes are said to have originated from the triploid variety King of the Blues. Similar color changes occurred repeatedly without change in the triploid chromosome number. Tetraploid somatic variations of diploid hybrids between Narcissus pseudonarcissus and N. poeticus have been discovered. "Among the hundreds of bud variations of the principal varieties of flowering bulbs there are only a few rare cases of concomitant changes of chromosome number or of nuclear structure. Heteroploidy should not be connected in the first place with the process of somatic variation.".

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