Re: [CH] Bulgarian Carrot
Brent Thompson (brent@hplbct.hpl.hp.com)
Mon, 03 Apr 2000 11:25:02 -0700
> Today, the Bulgarian Carrot I was talking about has sprouted two blooms
> from a single node. These blooms have a bit of pale blue coloring inside
> which I had not noticed before, suggestive of C. Chinense. Isn't Bulgarian
> C. supposed to be C. Annuum?
The Bulgarian Carrot I grew several years ago (seed from Shephard's Seeds)
matched typical C. annuum and I'm sure it was C. annuum. Two blooms from a
single node can occur in any species; only the "normal, typical" traits are
used to determine classification, just as someone born with 6 fingers on
one hand would still be considered H. sapiens.
Interesting about the pale blue color, though, which I presume you mean is
in corolla. I've never seen any blue coloration in corolla of C. chinense
(or C. frutescens), indeed keys specify white or greenish-white corolla as
diagnostic of these two species. Anthers of course are blue in these two
species, as in C. annuum also (though yellow anthers can occur in C.
annuum). Maybe C. chinense blooms are different in your
climate/soil/water/fertilization-regimen than here in SF bay area (where
summer highs are rarely even in 90s, this past weekend notwithstanding, and
summer lows are usually low- or mid-50s).
Or maybe you've seen a chinense crossed with one of the purple-flowered
forms of C. annuum which inherited some of the blue corolla coloration?
--- Brent