REPRODUCTION

The albino plants hardly ever flower. The loss of chlorophyll is not the only mutation that happens to them. Many are sterile. If not, it is hard to find a partner for pollination. Here are some seed propagation statistics from our observations:

germination of seeds from albino's flower: 0 - 45%

relation between coloured (albinos) and green seedlings: 0:100 - 50:50

the number of albinos which survive at least one season 0 - 5%

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The pollination between generatively bred albinos has succeeded and also some self-pollination was noticed. The germinative faculty of these seeds is very low (0 - 1%). The offsprings are more like chimeras of green and albino specimens.

(Statistic in these cases is inadequate, because the number of the experiments is too low.)

Albinos have rather unusual ways of dying. Other than accidents, the most usual cause of death is cork tissue that appears between the stock and the graft. The graft loses its colour, and off-sets from stock grow more intensively. This may last for months and then suddenly, in one day, the graft dies.