In: August 28, 1999 (mailed by Clover on August 11)
Out: August 31, 1999

Dear Robin friends,

I couldn't believe it! The robin back again so soon, less than four months?
(And I am one of the worst offenders.) Guess Clare is really cracking the whip.

Anyway, my seven days was up the moment I saw the package from Clover, because
we were on vacation in Canada, so the post office was holding it for us for
almost two weeks. So, in the interest of moving it along, I'll just give some
general comments here, and save the specifics for the next round. (I have
copied all of your messages, so I can read and respond to them at leisure.)

The most significant thing that has happened to me this summer, in the
hybridizing of daylilies, is that the chromosomes of ED MURRAY (Grovatt, 1971,
and a Stout Medal winner in 1981) have been counted, by Peter Mueller of
Heidelberg, Germany and his wife, and ED MURRAY is a diploid..... apparently.
Peter counts 21, 22 or 23 chromosomes, with the count not clear because there
is sometimes the appearance of an "extra" chromosome lying on top of another,
or possibly of one chromosome larger than the others. This genetic abnormality
or irregularity, I would surmise, is responsible for the "polyploid" or
unreduced-gamete pollen and egg cells, and would explain why ED MURRAY is
relatively infertile and produces tetraploid children whether crossed with
diploids, triploids or tetraploids. Peter hopes to get a more accurate
chromosome count later this year. At any rate, it is clear that ED MURRAY is
not a triploid, as I had surmised, but this is a big help to me as I now know
what I'm working with and not just taking shots in the dark.

The seedling I preregistered as "Hexxed" is most likely a truly stable,
tetraploid version of ED MURRAY (it is ED MURRAY selfed, you may recall), with
the chromosome abnormality and thus the near-infertility of the "diploid"
carried into the tet version. This may someday prove useful to hybridizers, if
the plant's behavior stabilizes in the next few years and its fertility
improves, because (in my opinion) the so-called "tet" conversion of ED MURRAY
failed - there is nothing in the characteristics of "tet" ED MURRAY that
suggests a doubling of chromosomes such as one sees in Hexxed. I tried putting
dip pollen on Hexxed this summer.... before I had heard from Peter..... and got
the customary aborted pods. Next summer I will use Hexxed with tets, hoping for
the occasional viable seed such as one occasionally gets with ED MURRAY.

My posting of progress reports on my web site (this message will be posted,
too) is attracting helpful suggestions from other people, including the comment
that diploid "fulva has the gene for unreduced gametes and produces 2 to 10
percent egg cells with 22 chromosomes, making tet pollen OK". That certainly
bears out in my experience with my seedling DP97-17, which is (JENNIE LOVE X H.
fulva rosea), or very close to the species. This year I put on it pollen from
tetraploid (THORNBIRD X tet seedling TR95-08) which has the characteristic ED-
MURRAY-like large pollen grains, and set pods filled with seeds, just as if I
were making dip X dip crosses. Some of the seeds are aborted, of course, but an
awful lot of them look pretty good to me. Next spring I'll plant them and hope
they germinate. Last year I put "ordinary" tet pollen on DP97-17 and got a few
seeds, but none germinated. I am hoping that using parents both of which have
unreduced gametes will improve my chances for germination.

I also checked out my tetraploid IMPLAUSIBILITY (H. fulva 'Europa' X ED MURRAY,
you may recall) and found that it also has the large, unreduced-gamete pollen
grains, so this summer I tried the pollen on dips and got lots of pods. I
actually set pods with good-looking seeds on about half the dips I used, and
there seems to be no way to predict which dips will respond and which will not.
For example, FAIRY TALE PINK (Pierce, 1980) was a bust, but JOLLY LAD
(Spalding, 1980) is a willing parent with many pods and seeds. Last summer, in
my efforts to create "natural" tetraploids, I tried THORNBIRD pollen on a
number of dips, and now have growing one plant from JOLLY LAD, and a half-dozen
from my diploid seedling DP96-04 (which is diploid seedling LL92-03 X FAIRY
TALE PINK, go figure!). It looks like IMPLAUSIBILITY might have "killer pollen"
for setting tet seeds on diploid plants, because when you try this with
"ordinary" tet pollen, the pods all fall off. I would surmise that
IMPLAUSIBILITY is successful here because of the propensity for unreduced
gametes in both its parents.

We admire the nostalgia plants for their charm and ruggedness, but I find
myself excited at the prospect they may (and probably do) also harbor the genes
for creating tetraploids which will readily cross with (certain) diploids to
produce tetraploid children. In my Spring 1994 article, "Triploids are
Fertile", in the Daylily Journal I speculated on creating triploids as "bridge"
plants between diploids and tetraploids. It would seem that tetraploids
themselves have the means to become bridge plants, if we hybridize for that
characteristic, and considering how difficult it is to create triploids, bridge-
tets would seem to be the way to go.

As for hexaploids? It looks like I will have to take the straightforward route.
My (THORNBIRD X TR95-08) seedlings have the look and feel of diploids, without
the usual stiffness of tets, and I believe they will successfully convert to
octoploids, so I'll be shipping a batch to Dan Trimmer soon for conversion.

/Nick Chase