1. The Stanford Dahlia Project
Dahlia ‘Lirio Vario’
Tim Culbertson

2. Dahlias at Stanford
Grown at the Plant Growth Facility on Stock Farm Rd.
80 varieties
Prepared Beds
Subsoil Irrigation and Fertilization
Dahlia ‘Duet’

3. Dahlias in Plant Genetics
Project Purpose
Dahlias in Plant Genetics
Dr. Virginia Walbot
Flower color & plant pigment genetics
Forms
Hybridization
Color analysis
Other Questions?

4. Project Examples
Does floral pigmentation correlate with leaf and stem pigmentation?
What are the differences in the pigments found in dark purple, lavender/purple, red, orange, pink, yellow and white flowers?
How could you define the "phenocritical" period for stem or leaf pigmentation?
Is the frequency of transposon excision constant over petal development?

5. Dahlia ‘Blackberry Ripple’
Project Examples
Focus on Transposons –
Genes that control variegation
Dahlia ‘Lirio Vario’
Dahlia ‘Blackberry Ripple’

6. So Far…
Database
Website
Culture!!
Dahlia ‘Spartacus’

13. Stanford Dahlia Project
How can you help?
Identify website problems
Identify new varieties we need to grow
Identify new study questions
Add images / information to the database
Allow students to use your garden
Help grow out seedlings

14. Stanford Dahlia Project
Questions?

15. Cultivated Dahlias at the USNA Herbarium

16. Herbariums Collections of dried plants, fruits, cones, etc.
Largest – Paris with 8 million specimens
Largest in US – Harvard with 5 million
USNA – rare due to emphasis on cultivated plants (about 800,000 sheets)
Roses, Boxwood, California Native, Carnivores, Strybing Arboretum, Dahlias
A Library

17. How to Make a Sheet Cut about 18” of plant material with flowers
Note collection data
Date, Location, Variety, Habitat Information
Press between newspaper inside cardboard inside wooden press
Make labels with collection data
Glue plant and label to archival paper

18. Demonstration
Come on up!!