The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds and/or flowers. All are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
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I have a beautiful camellia bush/tree that has been at the house since long before I bought it 40 years ago. Below you see its size and although fading badly now, it has had its best flowering year in my memory. As you can see, it has been shaped to be tree-like to allow light into the kitchen windows behind it.
I have a question for the botanists bucketeers and others who might be able to explain it's various and variegated coloring characteristics illustrated below.
This white and red variegated flower is the predominant color, accounting for about 80% of the blossoms. I call it a peppermint candy. In searching online for something similar, I found two similar blooms among many hundreds.
The second color is a solid red/pink blossom, accounting for most of the remaining blooms.
The remaining few blossoms are a combination of the two color patterns, being part solid color and part variegated. Different blossoms have different percentage of the two coloration patterns.
exploring camellia photos online, I found someone who seemed to have an explanation for these different patterns although I coould not follow the line of reasoning very well. This person indicated that the variegated coloring could be a result of genetics or viral infection. The author then describes possible genetic mutations that can account for the variegation and finally, the mutation being unstable, it might revert to its normal pigmentation genes and produce the third example of stripes and solids on the same flower.
At the risk of getting too academic and complicated, I am in hopes that someone on BYS can provide a more accessible and satisfying explanation of how these various patterns develop. I know there bucketeers with much more genetic knowledge than I have. Help!
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Now It's Your Turn. What have you noted happening in your area or travels? As usual post your observations as well as their general location in the comments.