IN-VITRO PROPAGATION OF IRIS-PALLIDA

Plantlets were regenerated from callus of Iris pallida, an important p erfume plant. Only the leaf base attached to the rhizome had the abili ty to generate yellow-colored callus on LS medium supplemented with 1 mg/l 2,4-D and 0.1 mg/l KT in the dark. Yellow calli grew with partial differentiation into white tissue, probably embryogenic, during subcu lture on the same medium with a 16-h photoperiod. Only yellow-colored calli with the white tissue could differentiate into plantlets after t ransfer to kinetin- or gibberellin- supplemented LS medium. Regenerate d plantlets which grew on the medium without growth regulators were tr ansferred to the soil. After 2 years of cultivation in soil, the regen erated plants flowered and formed rhizomes. The components of the esse ntial oil in the rhizome of regenerated plants were essentially the sa me as those in natural plants.