Comparing Cotyledons

(Doug) Murfreesboro, TN

I have germinated and started two commercial seeds that are supposed to be a variety of Ishidatami. The one shown here is about three weeks old. It is very low growing and the cotyledons are textured.

Thumbnail by Cibarius
(Doug) Murfreesboro, TN

And here is the second one. It is about ten days old, much more upright and without the texture. Is it likely that there could be this much difference between two seedlings of the same variety?

Thumbnail by Cibarius
(Becky) in Sebastian, FL(Zone 10a)

Doug - I've had seeds started from the same mother vine and the leaves were different and produced different plants and blooms. Either a cross or a recessive gene showing up!

Your first vine could also have some stunting going on or could be a cross. No telling until you see how it grows and blooms. Looks interesting whatever is going on with the first one. :-) And it will be most informative to see what the first true leaves look like.

(Doug) Murfreesboro, TN

After seeing so much difference between the cotyledons of these two plants, I am now ready to compare the mature leaves and blossoms of the two. Both of them survived being planted out in my garden, but this one was very weak at first. It is still quite a small plant, only six inches tall. Its leaves are somewhat crinkled or textured like the cotyledons were. It has made three or four flowers and all of them have been solid blue with no white edge as you see in the picture. This variety was identified as Criss Cross.

Thumbnail by Cibarius
(Doug) Murfreesboro, TN

And here is the other one. It is a much stronger plant that has already climbed three feet tall. The foilage is larger and smoother than the other one, and the edges of the flowers are white.

Thumbnail by Cibarius
(Becky) in Sebastian, FL(Zone 10a)

Doug - Lovely blooms! I thought criss cross had pink blooms, but maybe that is a descriptive name of the split bloom petals. It's very pretty whatever it is called. The second one reminds me of 'Ishidatami':
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/176760/

I've got a couple of vines that were also weak and are considerably smaller than the other vines that all germinated at the same time. Maybe some seeds carry inferior genes and therefore grow smaller plants.

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