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{Disarmed} Re: Pollinators

Although there are great risks when trying to understand a species or class of irises (such as Siberians) by studying another species, but I think my observations concerning Japanese irises may be of benefit.
 
I believe that the ideal garden iris should be fertile when hand-pollinated, but practically sterile when left to nature. I noticed that some Japanese irises in my garden set lots of bee pods, while others set none. I wanted to know the what factors should be considered in developing the ideal garden iris.
 
To get a handle on my question, I recorded the number of bloomstalks and bee pods on every named JI cultivar in my garden. I did this for 2 years.
 
Species-like 3-fall forms set pods on practically every flower. Other 3-fall forms set fewer pods.
 
Six, nine and multipetal forms of Japanese irises set few bee pods, but there are a few surprises. The position of the style arm relative to the landing platform affects natural pollination in both 3-and 6-petal forms. Although the signal functions as a guide, the visit will not result in a pollination if the pollen does not reach the stygmatic lip.
 
In the more complicated flower forms, anthers are converted to petaloids. In most cases, the petaloid blocks access to the style arm. Furthermore, there is little pollen produced, further reducing the chance of natural pollination.
 
The question you pose (Do certain cultivars provide better targets?) is much more difficult to answer. It's not really about pollination, which can be measured 4 to 6 weeks after bloom, but about visitors who may or may not pollinate the flower. There are also other factors, such as scent that you have not mentioned. I suspect that ambient light, temperature, flower color and flower placement relative to foliage are also factors. I don't know anyone who has the time or resources to design, much less conduct a study to answer that one in a credible manner.
 
Until it happens, we can simply wonder.
 
Dennis Hager
on Delmarva
 
 
 
 
 
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 11:13 AM
Subject: Re: [sibrob] Pollinators

Hello;

The reason I brought up the topic of Siberian Iris pollinators was due to some recent reading about "pollination syndromes" and how it relates to speciation. Siberians are bee-oriented (landing platform with UV nectar guide). What I am really curious about is how our hybridizing efforts effect the types of visitors and the number of visits. The signal provides the UV guide, the fall the landing pad. Do certain hybrids provide better targets?
Unfortunately, I lack the time to experiment. But is at least interesting to know the pollinators.
People who love butterfly gardens may find it of value that Siberians attract Tiger Swallowtails etc.

Bill

Ken Walkup <krw25@cornell.edu> wrote:

>Bill & Dennis,
>         I've "almost" caught the bees on camera several times in the last
>few days; the dang digital delay has defeated me every time.  I also see
>some kind of fly working the blossoms ( hope it's not orthochaeta), and
>even a few ants on the shorter ones, but if you watch the bees at work it's
>easy to imagine how the mechanism works.
>         ken
>At 08:57 PM 6/11/2007, you wrote:
>
>>Bill,
>>
>>There's a reason they're called "bee pods".
>>
>>I see lots of "visitors" in my iris gardens, but after having examined the
>>flowers carefully, I think the only visitors that I call pollinators are
>>the bees that wedge themselves under the style arm and pick up pollen from
>>the anthers. At the next stop, some of the pollen is scraped from their
>>backs by the stygmatic lip.
>>
>>I've attached a photo of a bee doing its thing on a Japanese iris.
>>
>>Dennis Hager
>>on Delmarva
>>
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: <mailto:wmcdougherty@cs.com>wmcdougherty@cs.com
>>To: <mailto:sibrob@yahoogroups.com>sibrob@yahoogroups.com
>>Sent: Monday, June 11, 2007 5:37 PM
>>Subject: [sibrob] Pollinators
>>
>>To everyone with open flowers;
>>
>>I spent a very small time looking into this topic the season but I have
>>often found it curious as to what pollinators visit Siberian Iris? More
>>eyes and people with more time could help with this topic?
>>I have seen Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies and Bumblebees.
>>
>>Bill
>>
>>
>
>

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