A Periclinal Chimæra in Tea

Abstract

SINCE the production of new morphological types in the course of grafting experiments of tomato on Solanum nigrum in 1910 by Winkler¹ and the description of the difference between the white-edged and solid-green leaf varieties of Pelargonium zonale by Baur², the spontaneous occurrence of chimæras, particularly in fruits and flowers, has been reported in many crops and ornamental plants. More recently, Sativa and Blakeslee³ have reported the induction of chimæras by treatment of germinating seed with colchicine. The occurrence of a chimæra in tea of the type described, however, has not been previously reported. Gadd⁴, in a discussion of non-infectious chlorosis in tea, says: “The yellow colour is due to lack of chlorophyll, though why it should not develop normally in particular zones is not known”.