Re: TB ancestry; hybridizing
- To: i*@Rt66.com
- Subject: Re: TB ancestry; hybridizing
- From: C*@aol.com
- Date: Mon, 1 Apr 1996 18:08:43 -0500
In a message dated 96-04-01 16:54:28 EST, you write:
> From what I
>:understand our modern iris are derived from iris germanica, a hybrid of
>:unknown parentage. I. pallida, I variegata. etc. Are any of these
>:unusually prone to rot? I have not seen any of the early hybrids or
>:species. I was wondering if perhaps this unfortunate trait has been
>:propagated a million times over, and not just environmental factors. Most
>:moderns are tetraploids. That certainly cuts down the original parents
>:doesnt it?
>
>The modern TBs were derived by crossing the species you mention with
>tetraploids from the eastern Mediterranean.
Tom, I am sure you will forgive me for making one small correction to your
response to Lonnie. Of the irises Lonnie mentioned, Iris germanica has
played no role in the breeding of modern TB irises...(or any other type of
modern iris either). Although it has been written that I. germanica sets
pods in very warm climates, I have never seen a documented case of this that
could be verified. For all practical purples, germanica is a sterile
interspecies hybrid. I suspect that the cases where people have thought that
germanica set pods were cases where the iris was something other than
germanica. Clarence Mahan
