Characteristics of flower colour in the bud-mutated cultivars of the carnation Mini Tiara series

Spray carnation cultivars of the Mini Tiara series have unique, narrow sword-shaped petals with various colours, and were bred through bud mutations from pink-flowered 'Mini Tiara Pink' (MP) and pink, creamy-flowered 'Mini Tiara Cream' (MC). MP had pelargonidin glucoside as a major pigment, whereas the pale purple-flowered cultivar 'Mini Tiara Lilac' derived from MC had cyanidin glucoside as a major anthocyanin. Furthermore, orange-flowered 'Mini Tiara Sunny' (MS) had both pelargonidin glucoside and chalcononaringenin 2'-glucoside. Thus, the variation in petal colour in the Mini Tiara series was produced by the difference in the amount and types of flavonoid pigment in the petals. Additionally, MS produced several kinds of flower colour mutation and showed a high frequency of flower colour mutation compared with the other cultivars. Therefore, the Mini Tiara series is not only a highly commercial product for the flower market but also useful material for the study of petal colour mutability in carnations.