Re: HYB: Fertility

 
> I have recently removed bee pods on pseudacorus, versicolors, 
> and 'robustas.'  Every pseudacorus bloom seems to produce a pod.  
> All of the versicolors had seed pods except JOHN WOOD.  No 
> 'robustas' had seed pods.  CAST ASHORE, maybe a 'robusta', had
> pods.
> 
> So, what I am trying to say is that JOHN WOOD is not a versicolor
> and CAST ASHORE is not a 'robusta.'  
> 
> Can anybody verify the above statement?

Walter,
I don't think that lack of bee pods is a good indicator. I grow the old
standard robusta, 'Gerald Darby' and it occasionally sets pods. I just
got a small start of 'John Wood' late last year and it did not bloom
this year, but the plant is growing quite well. The foliage and habit
looks like a versicolor, not a robusta.

Though it it widely held that interspecies hybrids are sterile, that is
not always the case. 'Roy Davidson' routinely sets seed for me, though I
have only been successful at germinating them with embryo rescue. Many
of Tony Huber's versatas are quite fertile. 'Laurentian Sunset' sets
pods almost like a pure versicolor. There are pseudacorus ensata crosses
that routinely set pods, but rarely, if ever produce any viable seed or
embryos, as far as I have been able to determine. There is a(n)
(in)famous tetraploid pseudacorus ensata cross 'Hatsuho' which is
fertile. There is a story about it in the April Bulletin. I just got a
division last year and it has one very large pod on it now. 

With Japanese irises (which I study ad nauseum) flower structure affects
bee pod set. There are very few Japanese irises that are not fertile in
both directions, but many of them rarely if ever set pods. The closer
the flower is to species form, the more likely that it will set bee
pods. Generally 3-fall forms set many pods, 6-fall forms set very few
and multipetals set practically none. By the way, I have collected data
to back this up.

In addition to flower structure, the type of bees that visit your garden
can affect bee pod set. Honey bees are much smaller than bumble bees. I
have seen them on 'The Great Mogul', a huge 3-fall JI with style arms
that stand high. HOney bees deposit no pollen on the stigmatic lip, but
a bumble bee is large enough to fill the gap and the stigmatic lip
scrapes the pollen on the same flower. With 'Prairie Glory' the style
arm is practically touching the fall and the honey bee has to force the
style arm up to get to the nectar. Needless to say, 'Prairie Glory' has
fantastic bee pod set. 

R. Dennis Hager
in too deep
on Delmarva

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