Mk. Gatt et al., YELLOW PINKS - INTERSPECIFIC HYBRIDIZATION BETWEEN DIANTHUS-PLUMARIUSAND RELATED SPECIES WITH YELLOW FLOWERS, Scientia horticulturae, 77(3-4), 1998, pp. 207-218
Interspecific hybridization was carried out with the aim of transferri
ng yellow flower colour from yellow-flowered carnations (2n=2x=30) and
Dianthus knappii (2n=2x=30) to a white-flowered cultivar of the garde
n pink, Dianthus plumarius (2n=6x=90). These hybrids were difficult to
make but a small number were produced from both cross combinations. A
ll the progeny from the crosses with carnations were pink but those fr
om crosses with D. knappii were pale cream-yellow, with some variation
in intensity between plants. Differences were observed in chromosome
number between hybrids, which were either tetraploid, which is the exp
ected situation, or pentaploid. Observations on pollen mother cell mei
osis and pollen production in D. knappii revealed that the plants were
producing unreduced (diploid) gametes at significant frequencies. Ana
lysis of the flower pigments showed that the yellow flower colour of D
. knappii resulted from the presence of high levels of flavone and fla
vonol glycosides whereas those of yellow carnations were chalcones. Th
us, the Fl hybrids with D. knappii were yellow because they contained
the same pigments as D. knappii but the hybrids with the carnations we
re pink due to their ability to convert chalcones through to dihydrofl
avones and then to anthocyanins. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All ri
ghts reserved.