Chemical Aspects of the Inheritance of Flower Color in Impatiens Balsamina L.

ECENT applications of chromatographic techniques ( BATE-SMITH 1948,1949) R have facilitated identification of anthocyanin pigments and related compounds in micro quantities, thus permitting extension of the combined genetic and biochemical work initiated by SCOTT-MONCRIEFF (1931) and extended by many others. The genetic studies by the late D. W. DAVIS and his associates (1958) on the inheritance of flower color in Zmpatiens balsamina provide a material which seems particularly well suited for such studies. The balsams have a short life cycle, large flowers, and rather precise differentiation of color classes. Various flower colors exhibited in this species have been ascribed previously to the presence of glycosides of three anthocyanidins: pelargonidin, peonidin and malvidin, (BEALE et al. 1941; HAYASHI et al. 1953; FORSYTH and SIMMONDS 1954) but no association of the pigment content with the genetic structure of the plant'was made in these studies. The species is one of a family of herbaceous plants which is known to produce leucoanthocyanins ( BATE-SMITH 1954) and flavonols (HAYASHI et al. 1953) ; hence an intensive genetical and biochemical study may reveal the metabolic interrelations of several classes of similar compounds. This paper deals with the correlation between genotype and complement of both anthocyanins and leucoanthocyanins. The data are still limited but allow some conclusions as to stages in the biosynthesis of the anthocyanins.