Pedigree Analysis

For many years, hybridizers have used pedigree analysis for planning their crosses - both individual experiments for the coming year and long-range programs. It means spending long winter nights curled up with Checklists, charting the ancestors of interesting candidates.

If you've ever taken the time to ferret out the information and draw a pedigree chart that traces a modern arilbred back to species and ancestors of unknown parentage, you know how time-consuming it can be. That's why we tend to reserve this activity for leisure evenings. Nevertheless, charting pedigrees is the surest route to understanding the origin of today's iris.

All it takes is the appropriate Checklist(s) and a bit of time. If you haven't tried it, here's how:

1.

Start with a blank form, something like the one below. This small sample covers only three generations, but five generations fit nicely on an 81/2´11" page if the form is laid out lengthwise.

2.

Look up the iris you want to chart in the Checklist then transfer the pedigree information to the chart. This will cover parents, or sometimes grandparents, but Checklist pedigrees only go back far enough to identify registered ancestors, so the search has just begun.

3.

Repeat Step 2 for each registered ancestor until you've finished filling out the entire form.

4.

If five generations aren't enough, start a new form for each of the great-great-grandparents.

A many-generation ancestor-chart like this gives a concise picture of an iris's background and a set of such charts is an extremely valuable tool in any hybridizing program.