The Stanford Dahlia Project

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The Stanford Dahlia Project
Dahlia Lirio Vario

• Tim Culbertson

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Dahlias at Stanford

• Grown at the Plant Growth Facility on Stock Farm
  Rd.
• 80 varieties
• Prepared Beds
• Subsoil Irrigation and Fertilization

Dahlia Duet
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Project Purpose

• Dahlias in Plant Genetics
• Dr. Virginia Walbot
• Flower color plant pigment genetics
• Forms
• Hybridization
• Color analysis
• Other Questions?

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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?

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Project Examples

• Focus on Transposons
• Genes that control variegation

Dahlia Blackberry Ripple
Dahlia Lirio Vario
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So Far

1. Database
2. Website
3. Culture!!

Dahlia Spartacus
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• www.stanford.edu/group/dahlia_genetics/

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Stanford Dahlia Project

• How can you help?
• Identify website problems
• Identify new varieties we need to grow
• Identify new study questions
• Add images / information to the database
• Allow students to use your garden
• Help grow out seedlings

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Stanford Dahlia Project

• Questions?

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Cultivated Dahlias at the USNA Herbarium
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Herbariums

• 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

A Library
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How to Make a Sheet

• Cut about 18 of plant material with flowers
• Note collection data
• Date, Location, Variety, Habitat Information
• Press between newspaper inside cardboard inside
  wooden press
• Make labels with collection data
• Glue plant and label to archival paper

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Demonstration

• Come on up!!