My Research
(Above, left to right: Gordonia, Franklinia, Schima)
My research focuses on breeding among three genera in the Theaceae: Gordonia, Franklinia, and Schima. Each of these genera have their own particular characteristics that make them desirable parents for hybrids.
Franklinia alatamaha is the only species in its genus and is extinct in the wild. Although it survives in cultivation, it is susceptible to the fungus Phytophthora cinnamomi and therefore does not usually last very long in the landscape. It has several characterstics that make it a desirable plant for breeding, including a large, white flowers, a bright red fall foliage color, and considerable cold hardiness. (Ranney 2006)
Gordonia lasianthus is native to the southeastern United states. Like Franklinia, it has large white flowers. Gordonia also has evergreen foliage, but it lacks teh cold hardiness exhibited by Franklinia. Recent studies suggest that Gordonia lasianthus is also the only species in its genus (Prince and Parks 2001; Yang et al., 2004). (Ranney 2006)
Schima is a genus that seems to be more genetically diverse than either Franklinia or Gordonia. It lacks the large flowers seen in the other two genera, but it does have other desirable characteristics. For example, it too has evergreen foliage, and in some species of Schima, the new foliage has a reddish color. Also, Schima is adaptable to a variety of environmental conditions. (Ranney 2003)
At the NC State Mountain Horticultural Crops Research Center, my advisor, Dr. Thomas Ranney, has already successfully crossed Franklinia with Gordonia and Franklinia with Schima. However, most of the hybrids have been sterile. Future research in this area will involve screening potential parent plants for resistance to Phytophthora cinnamomi, development of propagation protocols for the three genera, continued breeding of the three genera, and assessment of hybrid fertility.
Works Cited:
Prince, L.M. and C.R. Parks. 2001. Phylogenetic relationships of Theaceae inferred from chloroplast DNA sequence data. Amer. J. Bot. 88: 2309-2320.
Ranney, T.G. and P.R. Fantz. 2006. XGordlinia grandiflora (Theaceae): An intergeneric hybrid between Franklinia alatamaha and Gordonia lasianthus. HortScience 41(6): 1386-1388.
Yang, S.-X., J.-B. Yang, L.-G. Lei, D.-Z. Li, H. Yoshino, and T. Ikeda. 2004. Reassessing the relationships between Gordonia and Polyspora (Theaceae) based on the combined analyses of the molecular data from the nuclear, plastid, and mitochondrial genomes. Plant Syst. Evol. 248: 45-55.
The material located at this site is not endorsed, sponsored or provided by or on behalf of North Carolina State University.