Wow, there sure isn't any information on this topic anywhere. I've done web searches and couldn't find any basic information. I went to Amazon to look for any books, but couldn't find any.

Carol Deppe's book, "Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties," has a little basic information. It is listed as an "outbreeder," like corn. It has 17 pairs of chromosomes(2n=34), although there are also some (maybe some wild variety) with 7 pairs. Also mentioned are Helianthus maximilianii (2n=34), and H. tuberosus (Jerusalem artichoke, 2n=102). But that's about it.

It looks like you'll have to do your own experiments.

Hybrids of diploid Helianthus species often appear to be entirely maternal, though in fact they are partial hybrids inheriting only a fraction of the paternal DNA.

Check out:
Partial Hybridization in Wide Crosses between Cultivated Sunflower and the Perennial Helianthus Species H. mollis and H. orgyalis.

Karl

Here is a link that might be useful: Partial hybrid sunflowers

Yesterday I finished scanning another article, this one about hybrids of the sunflower with related species -- including the so-called Jerusalem Artichoke, Helianthus tuberosus.

Karl

Here is a link that might be useful: Sunflower-Sunchoke hybrids

Hi,
I am looking for information regarding the duration of sunflower pollen viability.... Especially Helianthus annuus. Can anybody help me with this. Does anybody know of any scientific publications where I might find this information?
Thanks

I don't know the exact answer to your question, but since sunflower is in the asteraceae family it has trinucleate pollen and much more difficult to store than binucleate pollen which generally can be frozen and store well.

David

Thanks David,
I actually found some information that stated the pollen may be vialble for several days up to 1-2 weeks at room temperature in stoppered vials (Fick, 1978, in Sunflower Science and Technology), unfortunately I am looking for viability under natural conditions. I am aware that humidity and temperature play a role in viability, does anybody know of an average value????
Peter

In the past with heliopsis (another Composite) I was able to take cut flowers of the males I wanted and put them in water. As the days went by more of the disc florets opened and I could use the pollen that was ready each day. It worked well to get more pollen from one head. It wasn't long term storage, but helped me have pollen available over a longer period of time.

David