ABSTRACT:

Pollen from three variegated plants, two with overall purplish-brown coloration (haze) plus pattern from Ipswich, about 32 km in direct line west of Brisbane, and one with pattern only from Indooroopilly near Brisbane, was dimorphic. Pollen from two non-variegated plants from Indooroopilly was also dimorphic. The diameter range of normal grains with starch from the variegated and non-variegated plants was 32.3- 47.5 J.Lm with a mean of 40.5 J.Lm, whereas that of the aborted grains without starch was 19.0-36.1 J.Lm with a mean of 26.1 J.Lm. The amount of aborted grains, in a total of 2512 examined from the five specimens, was 5.1-9.8% with a mean of 7.1 %. After examination of the above results, it is suggested that the gene, or genes, for variegation is not genetically linked to the mechanism leading to abortion of some grains.