Source of Tangerine Factor

Neil Mogensen wrote>>

>Most of the first tangerine-bearded varieties weren't
recognized, as the
>colors were muted and the very obvious "pink bud"
flamingo color didn't show
>up until 1942 in David Hall's seedlings.
>As an example of ambiguity, Dr. Loomis' first
t-bearing seedlings were clearly
>different from the ordinary, but not so obviously
"pink" that he plunged into
>working with them.  PIKE'S PEAK PINK (SQ-72) was the
first in his work that
>was unambiguous, and as a result, it appears
prominantly in some very
>important pedigrees--such as in the sister seedlings
PINK TOWER and PINK
>FORMAL from Tell Muhlestein.

Neil,
Im hoping that maybe someone like you with a good
knowledge of the early tangerines might have an
informed opinion. What would you say brought about
those early tangerine bearded varieties? Ive read the
accounts of the tangerine factor in TWOI but I dont
have a clear memory of a source ever being proposed.
It seems that it began showing up all around, somewhat
spontaneously, and then was intensified by determined
breeding programs. Would it maybe have been a mutation
 increased by chance inbreeding, until it began
showing up in seedlings all around? Or would it maybe
have been a recombination of genes from the earlier
diploid beardeds and the tetraploids (Iris trojana and
others), that provided the specific metabolic step (or
lack thereof) that results in lycopene expression? Or
is there another more likely possibility that Im
missing?

Also, has any diploid (or tetraploid) bearded species
ever been shown to produce lycopene, even if only in
the beards?
Thanks, Tom

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