the structure of the iris flower is more complex than in some flowers but it doesn't approach that
of the orchid there are a total of six petals three up standards three down Falls the inside
of the flower has what are called three style arms on the fall petals in at least the garden
varieties there is what's called a beard and here you can see it's a much darker color but
it's still in that pink like open keratin family of pigments reproduction of the flower involves
a bee following this in and here underneath is the answer with pollen on it as the bee gets
nectar that pollen is rubbed on its back the next flower it goes to it fertilizes this little lip
is the stigma that pollen is placed on so when the bee with pollen on its back goes into the
next flower it rubs that pollen on this stigma the pollen germinates sends down and fertilizes down
here in the ovary that becomes a seed pod one of the reasons there are so many different iris
varieties colors and patterns is that literally hundreds of backyard gardeners and enthusiasts
will breed irises just as I showed plant the seeds and if they get a new and different flower
with somewhat different characteristics they can introduce it commercially and sell it there's a
way of registering names internationally so two different varieties don't get the
same name but it gives rise to huge numbers of variant flowers patterns width structure
just a plethora of interesting garden plants why am i interested in irises 'm pure happenstance i
started raising some actually when i was in the seventh and eighth grade and neighbors gave me
some plants with different colored flowers i was fascinated and i wondered what would happen if I
crossed a yellow iris with a blue iris would I get a green iris and so I started going to the
library and found out that how to study those was called genetics and that's what led me into
genetics so I became a geneticist and continued to study irises largely as a hobby there is a
tradition EB Sturdivant at Caltech was an iris breeder his expertise was Drosophila
genetics one of the pioneers of modern genetics FitzRandolph a corn breeder at Cornell was also
interested in Irish genetics and wrote chapters and books involving Irish genetics so there's
a tradition of academics being interested in this in part it appeals to aesthetics at two
levels fascinating flowers but also complex genetics that's an intellectual challenge