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Wonderberries are tetraploids!

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Posted by Radishrain Radishrain –
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I've long wondered whether wonderberries were polyploids or not, and it turns out, they are! Well, according to a couple sources on the Internet, anyway. I don't know if they're talking about research done on actual wonderberries sold as wonderberries or on Solanum retroflexum from Africa, or on the original wonderberry samples that we actually know for sure are wonderberries as grown by Luther Burbank, however. If they didn't test both, they should. If you can test them, I recommend testing the ones sold at Trade Winds Fruit, the ones at Baker Creek, and wherever else, as well as Solanum retroflexum from Africa.

I wonder if it's an allopolyploid.

I'm curious what a diploid wonderberry would be like, or an octoploid. Would the diploid have bigger fruit? Diploid tomatoes have bigger fruit than tetraploid tomatoes.

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Re: Wonderberries are tetraploids!

One surprising thing, though, is that wonderberries are surprisingly stable, considering they're tetraploids. The leaves sometimes evince genetic diversity (whether they're furry or not), but other than that, every plant seems about the same. It's possible that Luther Burbank bred many of the original traits out (and maybe it wasn't a tetraploid in the F1, either).

Whatever the case, it's a fine plant, and I like it quite a lot.
Climate: BSk
USDA hardiness zone: 6
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