A teenager's discovery of a cure for the leaf blight threatening much of the country's iris crop earned her scholarship money, science awards and recognition from the American Iris Society.
Amanda Poole, 17, spent a year in her mother's kitchen finding the right combination of antibiotics to rescue the colorful, spring-blooming flowers."We thought the research was very worthwhile in its own right. But it was most impressive for a youngster of her age," said Dr. Currier McEwen, a Maine physician and president of the society's science committee.
"There are a lot of family businesses that are making ends meet with irises. Some people may lose their livelihoods without a cure for this disease," said Melody Wilhoit, past regional vice president in Illinois for the American Iris Society.
Three years ago, University of Illinois plant experts identified the disease after Poole provided a sample from her father's garden. It was her father, a science teacher, who challenged the youngster to find a remedy for the blight.
"At first I was pretty cocky about this," Poole said. "But then after a while, I said, `Oh my gosh, how many thousands of antibiotics will I have to test?' "
The Iris Society contributed $2,000 to the project for equipment and supplies.
For her efforts, Poole won state and national science prizes. The American Iris Society Journal is publishing her research. The scholarship will pay for one year at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, where Poole plans to major in microbiology.
"I really love to do research," she said. "It seems so tedious to other people, but you never know what you might find or what you'll discover."