RE: Clones

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Thought I might add another little bit to the "clone" topic.  It was defined here well, but there is an element that I didn't see brought up.
 
In fact there are many cultivated "clones" of Iris.  Every named cultivar is a clone (or clonally reproduced, if it sounds better that way), and in fact the definition of a cultivar might be considered as a "clone" (= "vegetatively propagated" individuals), all of the same individual plant (a plant grown from one seed or spore - originally).  However, the definition of a cultivar (not so much with Iris, but in other cultivated plants) is sometimes expanded to include "strains", which are the same as "breeds" of animals, in which the plants are all basically identical, but are a closely related "family" of (often inbred) individuals that breed true to type from seed or spore.  I don't like the use of the term "cultivar" to include this later&nb! sp;category, but none-the-less it often does (you might see a strain of Marigold, Petunia, or other annual flowers called a "cultivar", as you might a strain of vegetables (such as a 'Big Boy' Tomato).  "Strain" is a much better term for those.
 
In many groups of plants, you will hear people speak of a "clone".  You may hear of "clone A", "clone B"; or, a "female [pistillate] clone" and a "male [staminate] clone", and so on.  This is a way of keeping track of the individuals propagated from each original stock plant, and is basically the same as giving cultivar designations instead of commercial cultivar names.  So, when they speak of "the same clone" or a "different clone" they are just keeping track of individuals.  Often it is important, because in many plants you need two "clones" to produce viable seeds (many plants are not self fertile, and if you make cuttings from one plant, they are still identical and incompatible, even if! they have different roots).  Growers may be consern! ed with keeping a stock of a certain number of each clone in order to keep a viable base for producing seeds or offspring to sell or study, or to produce new cultivars from.  

Dave Ferguson
in central New Mexico
Email: d*@carolinarubber.com