Re: HYB:Seed:TB:Variations

Betty, I have made notations in my stud book when I find something out of the
ordinary, such as "small seed" or when pods have a mix of full sized seed and
a lot of little things I call "chaff."  I record like this:  "20 + 10ch".  I'm
assuming there is a genetic problem at work when I get pods like this--some
basic incompatibility for the full "insemination" or whatever one would call
the complex process of fertilization in plants at work.  Either those chaff
are embryos that lack endosperm or something like that.  The apparently full
sized seeds may not all have embryos in such crosses too,  I record
germination year 1, 2, and sometimes year 3 for some types of iris and note
peculiarities if any--such as seedlings with no chlorophyll.  Romantic Evening
often has a few from many of its crosses.  I had two out of 12 germinations,
for example, in the cross (Great Gatsby X Romantic Evening) that had white
foliage.  They promptly died, of course.

Incidentally, that cross produced results that suggested Great Gatsby carries
one dose of the I-sub-s inhibitor (Progenitor factor), something for which the
published pedigree does not account.  Only one of the ten bloomed seedlings
was a self.  There was a range of contrast between fall and standard from
nearly pure white over violet-blue to bitone blue-violets.  That is not what I
would have expected from the cross going by the pedigree.  The appearance of
Great Gatsby, however, does suggest one-dose presence of I-sub-s.  Curious!

I have next-generation crosses from the best of that cross to bloom in the
spring.  It will be interesting to note what they look like and the counts
therefrom of bitones and full bicolors.

Neil Mogensen  z 7, Asheville, NC

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