Producing Triploid Plants of Euonymus alatus ‘Compactus' (Burning Bush) From Endosperm Tissues

Euonymus alatus, well known as “burning bush”, is an extremely popular landscape plant in the United States because of its excellent fall color. As E. alatus is also highly invasive, development of sterile, non-invasive, seedless triploid E. alatus is in high demand. Here we report successful production of triploid E. alatus using endosperm tissues as explants. In our study, approximately 50% of immature endosperm explants and 14% of mature endosperm explants formed compact, green calli after culture in dark for 8 weeks and then under light for 4 weeks on a MS medium. Approximately 5.6% of the immature endosperm-derived calli and 13.4% of mature endosperm-derived calli initiated shoots.  Eighty five percent of shoots rooted after culture on WPM media. Twelve independently regenerated triploid plants have been identified. Triploid plant regeneration rates observed were 0.42% from immature endosperm explants and 0.34% from mature endosperm explants, respectively, based on the number of endosperm explants cultured. Because triploid plants are normally seedless and sterile, non-invasive, triploid E. alatus plants that retain the desirable horticultural characteristics of the parent cultivar can be used to replace the currently used invasive counterparts.