--- In iris-photos@yahoogroups.com, "donald" <donald@...> wrote:
Donald,
I think I comprehend what you are saying about the mitochondrial
DNA... you're saying that you think the mother contributes more to
the structure of the plant? Well, I'ld have to say that Beau Zam is
not doing well in the stalk department in my garden anyway; blooms
popping off, branches down in the fan, short-especially by comparison
to this seedling.
An odd thought went through my head... My father once said to me RE:
horses that he thought the color always came from the sire. I
chalked it off a bit because he's really a computer geek... but he
does come from good farming stock. And as far as that goes, the
horse people I've been around always want the mare to throw body
type... Anyway, maybe that notion will translate just a bit to
irises. I'll have to study on it.
I'ld hate to have to re-evaluate my evaluations based on new
data....oh well.
Christian,
>
> > So the question is... would you save any seedling "just" for the
> sake of the stalk/ branching?
>
> My own opinion is 'yes' if the stalk/branching is what you are
> wanting. A lot of things are going on when a seed is being
created.
> My own suspicion is that stalk/branching are among the effects
> influenced via mitochondrial inheritance. Those effects are
> difficult to assess and there are probably a kajillion things
> effecting the inheritance - dosages, substructure via normal
meiosis,
> but anytime folks are talking about the differences between reverse
> crosses one of the visual differences should be what is inherited
> solely from the maternal lines. The 'skin' of the plant is most
> obviously the plant material inherited via that route. My own
> experience is that the 'skin' is what is most likely to show up
> similar to the pod parent and that includes branching. I've not
> grown enough seedlings to be totally convinced and I think there
may
> be too many variables at work otherwise that effect what you get,
but
> using it as a pod parent might be worthwhile.
>
> Donald Eaves
> donald@...
> Texas Zone 7b, USA
>
