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The "3/8ths Route"
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Genetically speaking, in a tetraploid population a 3/8th-bred is a
contradiction in terms. Practically speaking, however, it is very
convenient to think of a set of seedlings produced by crossing a 1/4-bred and a
1/2-bred as 3/8-breds until they have been completely evaluated and segregated
by ancestral type. It's a lot like flipping a coin. While the coin
is in the air, it has a 50/50 chance of coming down heads or tails. Once it's
landed, the outcome is known.
When the full potential of C. G. White's fertile amphidiploidlike hybrids was
recognized, some hybridizers intercrossed them to maintain full fertility while
others outcrossed them to broaden the gene pool.
The "3/8ths Route" is one of the outcross methods that proved quite
effective. |
| Arab Dusk (Les Peterson, 1977). Sky blue
with heavy overlay of red-brown on F; beard medium bronze. From
Esther, the Queen X LP62-126: (Snow Flurry x Asoka of Nepal). Its pod
parent was a halfbred and its pollen parent a quarterbred, but Arab
Dusk itself is an enigma. In appearance, it resembles the halfbreds.
Sometimes it breeds like a quarterbred and sometimes like a halfbred, but
it has certainly exhibited enough fertility to make further use
worthwhile.. |
| Beirut (Walter
Luihn, 1962). S sand veined maroon; F sand overall. Network of maroon, bronze beard. Engraved X Asoka of Nepal. No report of chromosome count available, although this was from a 1/4-bred X 1/2-bred cross. It has proved fertile enough, however, to produce several fully fertile registered offspring.
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| Bold Sentry (Les
Peterson, 1983). S blue, widely ruffled; F medium tan, heavily dusted rich
crimson red across upper portion and becoming lighter near edge, small
black signal; black beard. Arab Dusk X Genetic Burst. Looks and
breeds like a halfbred, and was eventually counted as a 44-chromosome
amphiciploid. The pollen parent is a quarterbred, which strengthens
the argument that Arab Dusk is a halfbred. |
Gates Ajar (Gordon Plough, 1965). S buff yellow veined light brown; F buff-yellow, dark-brown veining radiating from mustard beard; some purple splashes, straw-yellow styles. Imam Adib X Blue Gate.
Its pod parent was a halfbred and its pollen parent a quarterbred. Gates
Ajar was classified as a quantum system OGB- by the 1976 committee based on its pedigree. Not
fertile enough to convince me that it's an OGB in the present system, but
certainly fertile enough to be worthy of experimental use. |
| Mohric Art (Les Peterson, 1986). S widely
ruffled very pale silver blue; F soft off-white with faint showing of
yellow-brown near tip of beard and on styles, deep brown stigmatic lip and
area extending deep into throat, small rich brown-red signal; deep brown
beard tipped lighter. Mohr Pretender X Genetic Burst. Its pod parent
was a halfbred and its pollen parent a quarterbred. It is partially
fertile, but not enough so to convince me that it is a halfbred and as far
as I know it has not been counted. |
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