The Stanford Dahlia Project
Tim Culbertson
Dahlia ‘Lirio Vario’
Dahlias at Stanford
Grown at the Plant Growth Facility on Stock Farm Rd.
80 varieties
Prepared Beds
Subsoil Irrigation and Fertilization
Dahlia ‘Duet’
Project Purpose
Dahlias in Plant Genetics
Dr. Virginia Walbot
Flower color & plant pigment genetics
Forms
Hybridization
Color analysis
Other Questions?
Project Examples
1. Does floral pigmentation correlate with leaf and stem pigmentation?
2. What are the differences in the pigments found in dark purple, lavender/purple, red, orange, pink, yellow and white flowers?
3. How could you define the "phenocritical" period for stem or leaf pigmentation?
4. Is the frequency of transposon excision constant over petal development?
Project Examples
Focus on Transposons –
Genes that control variegation
Dahlia ‘Blackberry Ripple’Dahlia ‘Lirio Vario’
So Far…
1. Database
2. Website
3. Culture!!
Dahlia ‘Spartacus’
www.stanford.edu/group/dahlia_genetics/
Stanford Dahlia Project
How can you help?
1. Identify website problems
2. Identify new varieties we need to grow
3. Identify new study questions
4. Add images / information to the database
5. Allow students to use your garden
6. Help grow out seedlings
Stanford Dahlia Project
Questions?
Cultivated Dahlias at the USNA Herbarium
Collections of dried plants, fruits, cones, etc.
Largest – Paris with 8 million specimens
Largest in US – Harvard with 5 million
USNA – rare due to emphasis on cultivated plants (about 800,000 sheets)
Roses, Boxwood, California Native, Carnivores, Strybing Arboretum, Dahlias
Herbariums
A Library
How to Make a Sheet
1. Cut about 18” of plant material with flowers
2. Note collection data
Date, Location, Variety, Habitat Information
3. Press between newspaper inside cardboard inside wooden press
4. Make labels with collection data
5. Glue plant and label to archival paper
Demonstration
Come on up!!
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