Re: HYB: Seed Developement
- Subject: Re: [iris-talk] HYB: Seed Developement
- From: J* a* C* W*
- Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2001 07:40:18 -0600
> From: wmoores <wmoores@watervalley.net>
> 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,
Bees gather pollen as well as nectar when they visit flowers, but they
moisten the pollen by masticating it so they can "paste" it to their legs,
which is how they transport it. The pollen that is involved in cross
pollination of iris flowers by bees is not pollen that is actively
collected by the bee, but pollen that is brushed on to the bee's back from
the anther as the bee works its way into the heart of the flower to collect
nectar, and the bee becomes a passive carrier of pollen to the next flower
it visits, where if all goes as planned, the pollen on the bee's back is
deposited on the stigmatic lip as the bee pushes its way into the heart of
that flower. Given the size and structure of bearded iris flowers, this
means that it is essentially only bumblebees that can act as effective
pollinators. If you ever observe the mass of pollen that is intentionally
collected by even individual honeybees, it becomes obvious that the few
dozen grains that may be brushed off on a bumblebee's back are not going to
impede its ability to fly. If the process is working reasonably
efficiently, the pollen gathered on the bee's back from the anther of one
flower is mostly going to be deposited on the stigmatic lip of the next
flower it visits, so the scenario of mixed pollen from a bee cross that you
hypothesize it probably not typical.
Jeff Walters in northern Utah (USDA Zone 4/5, Sunset Zone 2, AHS Zone 7)
jcwalters@bridgernet.com
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