Space Age Appendages
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Space Age Appendages
- From: S* M* <7*@compuserve.com>
- Date: Thu, 2 Oct 1997 13:05:27 -0600 (MDT)
Rusty wrote:
> I was wondering how hybridizers can tell the difference between spoons=
> and flounces. I mean, Mesmerizer is listed as having flounces...but
> Honey Scoop has spoons. (That look exactly like Mesmerizer's flounces.=
)
> What is the qualifying distinction?
It's a matter of degree.
Horns came first. They end in points.
Spoons came next. In Austin's words, he
found among his horned seedlings some
in which "the horn occasionally forms a =
decorative spoon at the end", and selected
these as his second new race.
Flounces followed. Again, in Austin's
words: "horns transformed to diverse
petal-like decorative features". With the
introduction of his first flounced iris in =
1961, which he called his third race, he
coined the term "Spage Age Iris".
Actual performance is an interaction
of heredity and environment. When
exceptionally well-grown, some of
Austin's horned iris sometimes show
spoons. Under adverse conditions, =
some spooned or flounced ones
manage to produce only small horns.
Modern space-agers may be more
stable -- I'm not speaking from =
experience here -- but they are based
on Austin's lines and the various types
of appendages still form a continuum.
The hybridizer must make a judgement
call as to which term best describes a
new cultivar.
Sharon McAllister
73372.1745@compuserve.com
