ARE TRIOECY AND SEXUAL LABILITY IN ATRIPLEX CANESCENS GENETICALLY BASED?: EVIDENCE FROM CLONAL STUDIES

Prior studies have alternatively considered floral phenotypes in Atriplex canescens as trioecious (having three sexual genders) and/or dioecious and having a "leaky genetical switch." Clones transplanted from three populations and grown in common gardens reveal the existence of two distinctly different genetic controls regulating gender expression. In some clones gender is fixed as male (staminate) or female (pistillate), while in other clones gender varies, ranging from a mixture of male and female ramets to simultaneous hermaphrodites with various proportions of male and female flowers. For clones which vary their sex expression, variation occurs within irrigation treatments, between treatments and over time, as a consequence of the combined effects of genotype plus environment. The magnitude of sex change is also a product of the interaction of genetics and environment. Some clones have been repeatedly examined for 20 years.