Wilks' Delight. European Wild Field Poppy, Papaver rhoeas, Océ-weerd, Meuse Corridor, Venlo, The Netherlands
European Field Poppies are beginning to blow in our nature reserve, the Océ-weerd. Most are red. But I spotted a couple with white-edged red petals in a field of myriad solidly red ones. The Reverend William Wilks (1843-1923) of Shirley in England spotted similar ones in a corner of his garden abutting the wild fields. He took a shine to them and proceeded to a process of hybridisation that led to a great variety of differently colored flowers. They were named after the town of his parish: Shirley Poppies.
As the president of the Royal Horticulatural Society, Wilks was instrumental in introducing the work of great geneticist Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) to England in 1901. Horticulturalists and geneticists began to use Shirley Poppies to study hybridization. This gave rise to an acrimonious dispute between genetics and biometrics which was only resolved by the 'father of modern statistical science', Ronald Fisher (1890-1962). He showed that there is no contradiction between Mendelian genetics and natural selection.
Wilks' Delight. European Wild Field Poppy, Papaver rhoeas, Océ-weerd, Meuse Corridor, Venlo, The Netherlands
European Field Poppies are beginning to blow in our nature reserve, the Océ-weerd. Most are red. But I spotted a couple with white-edged red petals in a field of myriad solidly red ones. The Reverend William Wilks (1843-1923) of Shirley in England spotted similar ones in a corner of his garden abutting the wild fields. He took a shine to them and proceeded to a process of hybridisation that led to a great variety of differently colored flowers. They were named after the town of his parish: Shirley Poppies.
As the president of the Royal Horticulatural Society, Wilks was instrumental in introducing the work of great geneticist Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) to England in 1901. Horticulturalists and geneticists began to use Shirley Poppies to study hybridization. This gave rise to an acrimonious dispute between genetics and biometrics which was only resolved by the 'father of modern statistical science', Ronald Fisher (1890-1962). He showed that there is no contradiction between Mendelian genetics and natural selection.