The Stanford Dahlia Project
Dahlia ‘Lirio Vario’
Tim Culbertson
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 ‘Lirio Vario’
Dahlia ‘Blackberry Ripple’
So Far…
1. Database
2. Website
3. Culture!!
Dahlia ‘Spartacus’
www.stanford.edu/group/dahlia_genetics/
Stanford Dahlia Project
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
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
Stanford Dahlia Project
Questions?
Cultivated Dahlias
at the USNA Herbarium
Herbariums
Collections of dried plants, fruits, cones, etc.
A Library
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
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!!