Plant regeneration of Iris pallida Lam. and Iris germanica L. via somatic embryogenesis from leaves, apices and young flowers.

Irones are violet-scented ketonic compounds contained in the rhizome of certain species of iris. As cultivation of the iris tends to decrease, a selection program has been initiated to find the best performing clones in terms of growth and yield. Parallel to this selection, in vitro regeneration studies have been carried out in order to multiply interesting clones. A method of rapid multiplication by somatic embryogenesis associated with multibudding was developed. Callus was obtained from leaf bases, flower pieces or rhizome apices; the best explants were flower pieces. The induction media used to obtain embryogenic callus were Murashige & Skoog (1962) media. Assays with adding of proline in these media have showed that it could double the yield of embryogenic callus. The embryogenic expression medium was the Knudson's orchid agar (Knudson 1946) medium. Conformity of the plants obtained was checked by comparing their chemotypes with those of the mother plants.