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The degree of outcrossing in a given plant species rray vary with variety and environment. In safflower , outcrossing determination studies have been done in some countries such as U.S.A., however , there are no reports on outcossing rates of safflower in Iran
Two experiments were conducted to measure percentage of outcrossing in safflower In the first experiment , three populations of Carthmus tinctoriusL. consisting of (a) red and white - flowered plants , (b) yellow- and white-flowered plants, and (c) spiny and spineless plants were used. The number of outcrosses were found in the progeny of recessive genotypes . In the three populations, outcrossing percentages were found to be 17.5 , 29.4 and 10.1 perent, respectively. Thus , it appears that outcrossing percentage differs with variety
In the second experiment, samples of wild safflower (C.oxyacantha Bieb . ) were grown in a field of commercial safflower and the number of natural hybrid plants between the two species , in the second year, was 47 in a total of 2377. The rough estimate of outcrossing percentage , , suggests that under the conditions of this experiment the two species do not cross as freely as stated by some investigators