Inheritance of flower color in Anagallis monelli L.

Abstract

Plants of Anagallis monelli in their native habitat or in cultivation have either blue or orange flowers. Clonally propagated cultivars, seed obtained from commercial sources and the resulting plants were grown in a greenhouse at the University of New Hampshire. F2 progeny obtained from hybridization between blue- and orange-flowered plants had blue, orange or red flowers. There were no significant differences in petal pH of orange-, blue-, and red-flowered plants that could explain the differences in flower color. Anthocyanidins were characterized by high-performance liquid chromatography. Results indicated that blue color was due to malvidin, orange to pelargonidin, and red to delphinidin. Based on our segregation data, we propose a three-gene model to explain flower color inheritance in this species.