Species #14: Siberian Miner’s Lettuce
Siberian Miner’s Lettuce
Claytonia sibirica
This is an abundant species that seems to compete well in disturbed areas without a lot of soil. The flowers come in two colors, white and pink. I have no idea what the genetics might be for the color forms.
Questions:
Is flower color determined by genetics? If so, is it relatively easy to determine the color a new plant will produce based on the parent plants?
I have never noticed intermediate color forms, do they exist?
The wide variation in color of this species is noted in most floras, alot of color variations are produced by multiple genes, so predicting the color of the parent or progeny might be complicated. Color can also vary with flower age and pollination. Not sure exactly what you mean by intermediate forms, but I’ve seen alot of variation on the light to dark pink.
Comment by klb — June 6, 2007 @ 7:55 am
Yes, I meant intermediate color forms. I guess that maybe I’ve just not been paying enough attention, because while I suppose I have seen various shades of pink, none that I recall actually were pale enough to be approaching white.
Comment by goff — June 16, 2007 @ 4:26 pm