Re: unusual forms in species

---

I've seen thousands of plants of the three iris species native to Michigan, but only once found one of an unusual color. Plenty of normal variation, though (see hereÂfor example). Conversely, I found about a dozen variegated plants in the wild just this past year alone, as well as a few albinos. No irises yet.

The way to increase your chances of finding unusual variation is to examine many, many plants, either by roaming the wild or raising lots of seed in the garden.ÂSearching in the wild means nature does most of the work and you don't have to grow bazillions of seedlings yourself, but most of the unusual forms will have been weeded out by natural selection.

Sean Z

Zone 6a

SE Michigan