Re: R: [CH] cross breeding
Brent Thompson (brent@hplbct.hpl.hp.com)
Thu, 13 Jul 2000 10:16:27 -0700
> Next time I cut open a pod and a shower of seeds falls out, I'll say
> "We've been a bit of a tart then, haven't we?"
Does give a whole different perspective, doesn't it?
> Then could it be possible to get a pod with only one seed?
Yes. And I have seen pods of some of the little wild ones, i.e.
specifically either eximium or cardenasii, that contained only one or two
seeds, but then both these species normally only have (due to only having
_room_ for) 6-10 seeds per dinky fruit, so these were basically in the
range of normal variation for the species, which let's hypothesize might be
+/-50% or so in pod size, seed count, whatever.
Anyway, for many or perhaps most fruits, each fertilized seed causes some
certain amount of fruit flesh surrounding that seed to grow, resulting in
larger fruits when there are more seeds and smaller fruits when fewer
seeds. (Must be some hormonal thing, I suppose. Here we're talking about
a localized effect around each seed, not about nutrient status, stress, and
such effects that affect growth rate more or less uniformly throughout the
plant and can also result in larger or smaller fruits.) In some fruit
types, it can be glaringly obvious when fertilization is incomplete by very
mishapen fruits if say mostly only seeds on one side of an ovary got
fertilized (cherimoya fruits are great at displaying this feature). [But
one has to be careful interpreting a mishapen appearance, since various
little sucking bugs can cause similar appearance defects due to tissue
damage to the fruit when it is very young.]
I believe chiles share this feature of growth per seed, which would mean a
chile with only one fertilized seed would grow into one of those tiny runt
chiles which either abort early or, if they grow to maturity, we rarely
take time or trouble to investigate, being intent upon luscious big chiles
to eat and all.
--- Brent