From: Steve Marak samarak at arachne.uark.edu> on 2002.04.24 at 20:13:44(8626)
I've seen this with seedlings of various plants. Some seem more prone to
it than others - I have one albino Manfreda virginica (which has
occasionally been Agave v.) seedling now, a Hippeastrum species seedling
last year was, but I've had a number of albino hemerocallis seedlings.
(One batch was almost 10% albino.)
As expected, they grow perfectly well for a while and then die suddenly -
I assume when all energy available without photosynthesis is exhausted.
The longest lasting for me was the hippeastrum, which was surprising as I
didn't think there was much reserve nutrition in that very thin seed.
I have always wanted to try growing one of these on in sterile conditions
(as with orchid seedlings, or meristemmed plants) - no particular reason,
just to see if I could. But I never have - the logistics seem much more
difficult.
I don't have any way to know if these are truly albino (achlorophyllous)
or just have greatly reduced levels. There is a fairly commonly grown
variegated form of Hemerocallis fulva, the old orange daylily. Last year I
moved it. This year, where it was, a single shoot has come up that looks
completely white. Every day I expect to see it dead, its root exhausted.
But it has been up for weeks now, and appears to be growing very slowly,
so either I missed a chunk of root the size of a large konjac or it does
have some small amount of chlorophyll.
Steve
| +More |
IAS on Facebook
IAS on Instagram
