Rick, C. M.
It was very surprising to encounter a monogenic recessive jointless condition in segregates of Pearson x Gal. pimp. Like j this new condition is associated with leafiness, but unlike j it shows the following new correlated features: (1) very elongate pedicels, (2) strong tendency for inflorescences to proliferate, leading to an excessive number of flowers, (3) irregular tendency of the calyx to become leaf-like and other teratologies in the inflorescence, and (4) elongation of the fruit.
Although we had often examined flowers of the wild parent and pollinated hundreds of them we had not been aware of this jointlessness, but on reexamination, we found that the joint is lacking and the pedicel elongate, but the other features enumerated above do not appear. The results therefore suggest that the many associated effects result from interaction between the new jointless gene (j\2) and the esculentum germ plasm. This relationship is being studied in additional backcrosses to Pearson.
The F1 of j\2 x j\2 has well developed joints and no leafiness or other abnormality, but fruits do not separate well at the joint. A small F2 has been grown and both parental types and jointed types have been recovered.