| For a better view of the iris parts,
the drawings below detail the major elements of a bearded
iris. The anther is easily detachable from the flower using a pair of tweezers or forceps. Just brush the pollen bearing anther on the back or upper edge of the stigmatic lip of the pod parent. You can also use a toothpick to transfer the pollen if you are trying to spread a limited amount of pollen over several flowers. Moisten it between your lips, scrape a few pollen grains off an anther and spread them on the stigmatic lip of your target flower. Pollinate all three of the stigmatic lips on an individual flower using pollen from the same pollen parent. It only takes one grain of pollen per stigmatic lip to fill the corresponding chamber in the seed pod with seeds. But, you want to be sure things go well so put 10-15 grains on each lip to be sure one of them takes. (Scroll down for more) |
| Whenever you are collecting anthers or
distributing pollen, be sure to clean your tweezers,
toothpicks or other tools before moving from one flower
or pollen source to another, especially if you are
tracking the parentage of the crosses you are making.
Alcohol pads make a good cleaning medium. According to
some, licking off the toothpick is sufficient... I picked the two photos below because, in each, the stigmatic lip is a color that stands out against the style. |
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