Re: HYB:Gene Color Questions
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: HYB:Gene Color Questions
- From: T* T* L* <t*@rt66.com>
- Date: Tue, 22 Jul 1997 11:48:50 -0600 (MDT)
Sharlyn asks
: I am extremely fond of dark purple iris and want to hybridize them.
:My questions often involve the purple inhibitor gene ( I ). When this gene
:is present in one or both parent, will it stop all purple pigments in the
:seedlings?
If it is present in the _seedling_, it will indeed completely inhibit the
expression of the purple pigments. But its presence in one (or even both)
parents doesn't guarantee that any given seedling will inherit it. From
what I've read, I is often present in only one dose. This means that if
only one parent has it, about half the seedlings will get and the other
half won't. So crossing a violet or blue with a white, pink, or yellow may
certainly produce some blues, violets, reds, browns, and blends.
:Blue and violet are listed together on Tom's gene color chart.
:Does a blue parent produce blues? Can you get a dark purple seedling from a
:blue or violet parent or do you need to cross with a dark purple parent?
The exact quality of color (whether sky blue, indigo, rich purple, etc.)
depends on many different factors. No one's identified any specific genes
that can be related to these nuances. The best thing to go by at this level
is "like begets like": if you're after clear light blues, uses irises in
this color range as parents; likewise for rich purples. But be prepared for
some variation among the seedlings.
Some of the darkest purples (or "blacks") actually have a bit of yellow
pigment in them too, which adds to their richness. There's a whole area of
reds, browns, blacks, and blends that are all the same in crude genetic
terms (both purple and yellow present), but differ a great deal visually
because of the relative intensity and hue of the different pigments. This
is where science gives way to art.
Happy irising, Tom.
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Tom Tadfor Little telp@Rt66.com
Santa Fe, New Mexico (USA)
Telperion Productions http://www.rt66.com/~telp/
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