Re: [CH] Hybrid Info
Will McCown (will@ross-mccown.com)
Wed, 19 Oct 2005 13:10:59 -0700
Brent Thompson wrote:
>>Hungarian Wax I've had for a couple of years now. They've been in my
>>garage on cool nights and I pull them out for the morning sun.
>>
>>Today, while I was pulling a couple ripe wax's, I notice what looks
>>like a
>>bell red starting to ripen on one of its branches.
>>
>>Am I getting a hybrid here?
>
>
> If this odd-looking fruit is forming on a plant which normally produces
> fruits that look like normal Hungarian Wax chiles, then your odd fruit is
> simply a deformed fruit (not a pejorative, just a fact -- it could be the
> most beautiful delicious deformity of all time). No question of hybrid.
>
> Hybridization affects only the seeds inside the fruit -- or more precisely,
> only the genes inside the seeds inside the fruit. And that hybridization
> manifests only in the plants (the offspring) that eventually grow from the
> hybridized seeds.
There are cases in the plant kingdom where Hybridization effects the
actual fruit. The classic case is planting Squash and Gourds in the
same garden and ending up with hollow Squash.
I'm not enough of a scientist to expain the mechanism or know if
it might apply to peppers.
--
Will McCown, South Pasadena, CA
will@ross-mccown.com