I have mutated basil.

[lindaj]

One of my Greek Mini Basil seedlings is a genetic mutation. It grew with 3 cotyledons instead of 2. After much waiting, this morning I could see, with a good deal of squinting on my part, that the true leaves are also coming in in threes.

I've found a study about sunflowers that do the same thing, which grew out 3 generations, and found it difficult to stabilize.

Also, the sunflowers stopped their 3-lobed character after 6-7 nodes (and presumably reverted to their regular bi-leafed habit).

Nonetheless, I'm sort of excited, and I'm going to try to propagate this plant if I can.

I'll post pictures if I can manage to get some.

Comments

Re: Freak of nature, no?

[lindalee.livejournal.com]

Apparently this mutation, while rare, isn't so uncommon that no one has heard of it. A bit of asking around produces people that have seen such a thing, in various species.

It definitely started with one cotyledon on one side, and a sort of "twinned" cotyledon on the other. The true leaves are still too tiny to tell, but they look fairly even.

Our plant geneticist (yeah, we have one of those...isn't that cool?) is out of the office this week, but I'm going to quiz him on what he knows when he gets back.

The seedling is doing just as well as its 30-odd siblings (though of course some are a little ahead of others...this guy is more or less in the middle).

So...when are you visiting? Just think...now you can help me plant the tomatoes *and* take a look at the 3-lobed basil. :-)