Re: HYB: Seed Developement
- Subject: Re: [iris-talk] HYB: Seed Developement
- From: w*
- Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2001 20:29:33 -0500
- Priority: normal
On 2 Jul 01, at 22:32, Patrick Orr wrote:
> Francelle,
>
> I believe somewhere among my bulletins, and other iris-talk articles I
> read was an article that explains seed developement. I will try and find
> it for you.
>
> >From what I remember, each pollen grain is responsible for creating one
> >seed in the ovary of the iris. When the pollen is applied to the
> >stigmatic lip, it opens up and sends its genetic material down to the
> >ovary like a seed sends roots down into the soil. Some of the genetic
> >material in the pollen grain is responsible for the developement of the
> >outside of the seed, and some is responsible for the inner part of the
> >seed.
>
> Occasionally, the distance between the pollen grain and the ovary for the
> "root" of genetic material to travel is far longer than it can reach,
> therefore no pollination occurs.
>
> Some of the time, only the material that is responsible for the outside of
> the seed to develop makes it, and the part the develops the inside of the
> seed does not. When this happens, what gets produced could appear as
> immature seeds.
>
> Perhaps someone else can remember reading the same article and could shed
> a more scientific explaination than the simple one I just related.
>
> Patrick Orr
> Phoenix, AZ Zone 9
> 116 degrees today!~
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: MARVIN EDWARDS
>
> Betty, your experience has been the same as mine this year. I had more
> pods than ever. They seem to ripen about three weeks earlier than before.
> I harvest them when they split and they seem to be filled with very
> small, immature seeds. Fortunately not all are like that, but perhaps
> about half. I attributed it to our early, hot summer. A few pods are
> still on the plants, so I am hoping for better seeds from those. Francelle
> Edwards, 113 F. yesterday and probably today Glendale, AZ
"Doubting Thomas' here.
Yes, I remember reading something about each seed being fertilized
by a different grain of pollen.
Consider a bee pod. How many grans of pollen does that bee have
on his 'limbs?' If you get a full pod up up to fifty seeds, does the
bee that pollinated the flower have that many grains on him? Can he
still fly with that much? Wouldn't there be tremendous variation in
the seedlings from that pod, having been fertilized with so many
diverse grains collected from all the bee's stops.
I have planted many bea pods and have not seen much variation in
the seedlings. For each individual grain of pollen to produce each
seed, you'd have reds, whites, blues, plicatas, selfs, reverse bi-
colors, etc. in the seedlings from a bee pod. I have not seen that.
My experience does not bear this out.
Walter Moores
Enid Lake, MS USA 7/8
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