| Two things to note. The pod parent passes on plastid and mitochondrial DNA to the progeny. As these organelles mediate energy production and utilisation it follows you have a better chance of getting vigorous seedlings if the more vigorous plant is used as a pod parent. Hence, Kevin's comment about free flowering pod parents producing free flowering progeny. An issue which also should be considered, particularly when hybridising species, is the comparative flower size of the parents. Upon transfer to the stigma, the pollen sends a pollen tube down to the ovule to allow fertilization. The distance between stigma and the base of the pistil vary between species and pollen tubes have evolved to be long enough to reach the ovules of their own species. If you pollinate a large flower (in terms of the length between the stigma and the base of the pistil) with pollen from a smaller flower you run the risk that the pollen tubes may not be able to reach the ovules and seed set will be low to zero.  |