African violets mutate or “sport” easily and the results can be delightful, disappointing, or anything in-between. The term “chimera” is used to describe a plant that differs genetically from that which is typical for its species. In African violets, chimeras often exhibit striped or pinwheel color patterns in the flowers, or very think, stiff, or brittle stems or leaves as in “Supreme” foliage (tetraploids).
Sports can happen spontaneously (a sudden change in the plant`s chromosomes) or as the result of a culture break such as extreme temperatures, drought, or pest infestation. Mutations also may be induced intentionally by the grower through the use of various agents. Following are some of those agents:
Inducing Mutations in African Violets
Colchicine
Colchicine is a poisonous extract derived from a type of wild crocus plant. It is a known mutagenic agent that has been used in experiments on African violets for over fifty years. The idea is to apply a solution or salve to a cut leaf petiole after it has callused over. Plantlets produced from the leaf could carry twice the normal number of chromosomes. Early registered examples of this type of mutation were the DuPont, Amazon and Supreme series of African violets.
Gibberellic Acid
Gibberellic acid is a naturally occurring plant hormone that controls development and regulates growth. It is widely used agriculturally and is found in many plant `booster` formulae available commercially. Early use on African violets as a direct application to induce mutation resulted in such negative traits as elongated petioles and leaves, distorted flowers, and generally unattractive plants. It is still widely used in agriculture to induce polyploidy in other plant species.
Herbicides
Oryzalin (Surflan) and other weed killers have been shown to cause cell mutations. If you’d like to experiment, a web search will turn up several scientific abstracts from recent research on other plant species.
Radiation
The best-known experiment with radiation and African violets resulted in Optimara’s “Space Violets“, the EverFloris series. Many growers are currently experimenting with controlled exposure of leaves and seeds to X-rays, infrared light, and microwaves.
Prescription Medications
There have been reports of growers feeding their plants with water containing dissolved birth control pills, hair-regrowth medications, fertility hormones, acne medications etc. in the hope of inducing mutations since these controlled substances are known to cause mutation in human cells. To date we have not uncovered any reports about new or unusual results from such experiments.
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