ABSTRACT
Janaki began work in Wisley in full earnest in late 1946, and within a year produced tetraploids in a number of genera of garden plants, including the Magnolia and Rhododendron, using colchicine. Janaki was considered particularly adroit in the use of colchicine, capable of inducing polyploidy even in woody plants such as the rhododendrons. Students, amateur gardeners and nurserymen flocked to her laboratory to learn from her ‘tricks of the trade’; her tried and trusted methods were even put together as a kind of colchicine vade mecum for use by all those interested in making ‘plants to order.’ The manifestation of a tetraploid in a cultivated plant ‘marked a turning point in the history of its cultivation,’ and a eureka moment for the cytologist-breeder. Janaki would have several such moments in her plant breeding career. Her work at Wisley was however keeping her away from her academic research, and this made very uneasy; she felt she was being reduced to a chromosome counter and maker of tetraploids. The research atmosphere was from stimulating at Wisley as far as she was concerned.
