Okay my limited knowledge with “sports” begs the question. Can someone explain how sports are “created”? From what I can gather sports are flukes of nature. No/Yes?
I visited our friend Google and found this on Botany.com:
SPORT: This means a sudden variation in habit of growth or blossom color from the rest of the plant or others plants of its kind. This is caused by a genetic change that may be accidental or spontaneous, or intentionally induced. Therefore, if a pink flower appears on a yellow variety of Mum, it is said to be a sport of that variety. Likewise, bush Roses often give rise to climbing “sports”. The botanists call such sports, mutants.
If you google “botanical mutation” you will find all sorts of examples, discussion of how these things happen, etc.
Thanks Peter. I wonder if there has been any research into what actually causes a sport to occur. Meaning, what may cause the genetic change.
Sports usually have a pattern in lineages. Also, they often tend to be loose in terms of their stay power. Last, they sometimes carry over directly in terms of breeding, but not often. It is hit or miss.
This is the rose Charlotte Graham
[attachment 423 CHARLOTTEGRAHAM.jpg]
a rose that has mid pink bloom colour, dbl, matte mid green foliage , new canes are green and grows to 3ft high. The sport below is quite different in more ways than one.
The sport
[attachment 424 SportofCharlotteGraham.jpg]
It has lt pink dbl blooms, glossy foliage, new canes are red tinged and grows to 5ft high.
This sport was used in the creation of Mister Z , Just Joey X sport of Charlotte Graham.
[attachment 425 MISTERZ.jpg]
That is one (3) great looking rose(s).
Generally speaking, the short answer is:
Sport=mutation
There are two forms of propagation, in the broadest sense: Sexual propagation and cloning. Named cultivars are all clones of one another, created by budding, grafting, cuttings, tissue culture, etc. Crossing plants through breeding (sexual propagation or hybridizing) creates new cultivars with new gene mixtures, and within these new genotypes, new phenotypes (the genes that are observable) are expressed creating entirely new plants.
Sometimes, however, a clone mutates and is different from its “parent” – or rather the plant from which it was cloned – and this creates a new cultivar without hybridizing.
Of course, we look for desireable sports in roses, and only those that can be observed empirically really count as sports.
I think it is worth indicating that subtle sports likely occur not infrequently. I’ve often thought that provenance of a cultivar may be important when considering its performance – many cultivars can deteriorate over the decades as they are continually cloned and grown…
I saw a vivid example of what Philip is talking about…“genetic drift”… in a trial of coleus. The same variety from two different companies had noticeably different characteristics. Presumably they started from the same plant.
This effect would probably be a lot more subtle and slower to occur with roses.
Joe
Reading older descriptions of climbing sports shows much variation, too. The same climbing change would occur for several nurseries and be registered the same year, but one would have reliable repeat, where others would be once flowering. The same occurred with Cl. Iceberg. Many were once blooming, but one repeated well and has superceded the others in commerce. Most plant families do it. Camellias serendipitously sport all over. My Dainty White hibscus throws Dainty Pink here and there. The nursery I obtained it from is feverishly attempting to isolate the pink so it’s stable, but I like the serendipity of both on the same large bush. Makes it easier for me to enjoy both in half the room. The huge, old Kona out front frequently throws singles to quadruples.
Grillo had quite a run with sports. He must have gardened over a vein of uranium!
Thank you all!!!