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THE SPECIES IRIS STUDY GROUP OF THE AMERICAN IRIS SOCIETY
\' -... -S:IGNA
SPECIES IRIS GROUP OF NORTH AMERICA APRIL , 1986 NO. 36
OFFICERS CHAIRMAN: Elaine Hulbert Route 3, Box 57 Floyd VA 24091 VICE--CHAI.RMAN: Lee Welsr, 7979 W. D Ave. ~
CONTENTS--APRIL, 1986--NO. 36
CHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE Elaine HL\l ber t 1261 PUBLICATI~NS AVAILABLE Al an McMwn tr ie 12c)1 SEED EXCHANGE REPORT David & Merry Haveman 1262 HONORARY LIFE MEMBERSHIPS El a ine? HLtlbert 1263 INDEX REPORTS Eric Tankesley-Clarke !263 SPECIES REGISTRATIONS--1985 Jean Witt 124-4' - SLIDE COLLECTION REPORT Col in Rigby 1264 TREASURER'S REPORT Gene (>pton 1264, NOMINATING COMMITTEE REPORT Sharon McAllister 1295 IRIS SOURCES UPDATE Alan McMurtrie 1266 QUESTIONS PLEASE '-Toan Cooper 1266 NEW TAXA OF l,P,IS L . FROM CHINA Zhao Yu·-· tang 1.26? ERRATA & ADDENDA ,Jim Rhodes 1269 IRIS BRAI\ICHil\iG IN TWO MOl~E SPECIES Jean Witt 1270 TRIS SPECIES FOR SHALLOW WATER Eberhard Schuster 1271 JAPANESE WILD IRISES Dr. Norman Track 1275 A THEORY ON FRAGRANCE Homer Metcalf 1277 Mel.ELAND'S VEnSIVA HYBRIDS---IR ~S X ROBIJS1_1 Roy Davidson 127.8 WHAT'S NEW IN THE WATER GARDEN Roy Davidson 1279 FURTHER NOTE ON IRI~ HEXAGOhlA Ro!:! Davidson 1280 REVIEW : THE PROBLEM OF SPECIES IN NORTHERN BLUE ~LAGS Robert S . Sturtevant 1282 NEW IDENTITY OF HHS 'GERALD Df\R:BY'. · Ro1.,1 Davidson 1283 COMMENT : IRIS PRESERVATION Elaine HLtlbert t284 IRIS SPECIES NATIVE TO NORTH AMERICA Ei•nest G. B . Luscombe 12S5 EDITOR'S COMMENTS j·oan Cooper 130(2) 1261
CHAIRMAN I S I4ESSAGE
Everybody nowadays acknowledges the importance of preserving species and varieties of natural forms . Sometimes we act as if ~e were not aware. The uniformity of agricultural crops and forest plantations is going to be even more rigid when--soon--cloned forms of corn and white pine take over. We are assured that there is a bank somewhere with lots of wild maize and white-pine genes, in case they are needed; in the meantime a forest will come to be about as interesting as a box of toothpicks, Cloning is in fact now offered as a service by at least one laboratory to iris growers like you and me• Do I have a rare form I'd· l~ke propagated? They'll do ~t--but at a high price, and only after I can give them enough plant material to assure them of a rewarding mass production. This service could be a boon to species fanciers some day, just as commercial flask production has revolutionized orchid growing. Let us hope meanwhile that the same technology does not turn too many untidy places on earth into the kind of stiff projects you already see sometimes in parts of our West and Southeast· and in northern Europe, where one variety of tree in straight rows · shel·=.ers one species of bird, one species of rodent, one understory herb (not likely an iris), and i:me insect pest that is perfectly placed to wipe out the whole plantation in one year of explosive overpopulation--after which it is back to the old gene bank.
Iris gr011ers can ~ydream about the cloning offer, and their own gene-storage bank, and another technological boo.:i.--if it does not turn out a bust, and if it is ever field-tested at all--the bacterial agent that is said - to retard frost. Every gardener has thought -how many more things he could raise if he had just a few more frost-free days.
Laboratories now can do much with the analysis of DNA as an aid to taxomony. Techniques are not nearly refined _enough yet to trace the relationships of species, but it is interesting 'to think l1ow some day it will be possible to draw up set and certain family trees of these relationships, It will rather dampen the fun in one direction, where taxonomists and amateurs alike have been free to speculater but it should open up new possibilities in the other direction, suggesting new hybridization programs and predicting the likelihood of new spontaneous forms.
Elaine Hulhert--Floyd, Virginia February 7, 1986
PtnJ~ICATIONS AVAILABLE
Back Issues # 1 0 t:o current '· ( except 16) $1 • 50 each (we are out of issues #1 to #9 and #16)
Species Study Manual $5.00
Make checks or money oraers payahle to SIGNA. :"'!ail to Alan McMurtrie (address insiae the front cover), Publications will he sent out by Alan,
Anyone interested in a full set of back issues shoul
SEED EXCHANGE REPORT David and Merry Haveman February 28, 1986
We first want to acknowledge and thank those contributors whose seed was received after November 15, too late to be included on the regular list. These are the code letters their seed was -identified by:
Maurice Boussard BO Eric Tankesley-Clarke TC Denver Bot. Gardens Sarah Tiffney TF (Panayoti Kelaides) DB Martha Wilkins WI Samuel Norris NO John Wood WO Nigel Service SE Late contributions gave us 110 additional selections to use as substitutes and extras. At this time we have 32 selections available from the original list and 39 available from the later arrivals. we made up approximately 4500 packages of seed and filled 151 orders. Of these orders, 31 were sent to addresses outside the United States. Following are the TOP TEN most popular on the list, including the number of packages available and the number of orders received: Available Orders 1 - #224 verna 5 41 2 - 199 setosa alba 1 'Kosho-en' 41 38 3 - 010 reichenbachii 4 35 4 - 216 lactea 35 34 5 - 192 nelsonii 6 33 225 confusa 31 33 6 107 munzii 23 32 240 foetidissil You can see that some of these were in very · short supply. A few others that were also popular and in short supply are: astrachanica, all Hexapogons, bracteata, purdyi, demitrii, iliensis and prismatica alba. We made two changes in the list this year. We more clearly identified which selections were collected wild or hand pollenated and we listed each contribution separately so that each package was identified by donor. Following is a brief, preliminary financial statement: Income $ 999.54 Expenses: Printing and Maili~g List $ 260.32 Supplies 161. 29 Postage 123.56 Net Profit $ 454.37 Note: Value of supplies on band is approximately $70. Our notice in the AIS Bulletin has already resulted in 16 requests for the list. These will go out with an updated order form listing seed still available and an invitation to join SIGNA. A final TKANK YOU to all of our seed donors, for without them there would be no Seed Exchange. 1263 HONORARY LIFE -MEMBERSHIPS · ~ ...... , · • • • ' 1 • .I, ! •. . Elaine Hulbert . .. .. , . The story of the founding of SIGNA is well told by Bruce ·Richardson on Page One of our ilrst issue. As you flip through that one and subsequent numbers, you realize that -s. R. • s name is on every single title page, as edi.tor, lat~r p~J,isher, and frequently, contributor. Almost as unvacying is that top . line, "CHAIRMAN.'.: •••• B. Leroy Davidson," which stayed up there from 19-6Ekto 19°78_. ··. Th·e notes and corrections signed "Roy Davidson" are, .it tµrns out,a -.by the same guy. i A ·strange new officer turns up in 1970 as "Scientific Liaison Director, " but· ·- Homer N. Metcalf soon settles into the more conventional slot of Secretary-Treasure~, where he remains until 1978, although his scientific expertise continues to appear until the present day. The Seed Exchange was run by Jean Witt from 1972 until 1978, the year she became Chairman. If you begin to count the words--and in Jean's and _Roy's case, the drawings--these four have contributed to the thirty-five issues of SIGNA, you soon realize that there would literally not have been a species iris magazine without them. In a small way, we of the present SIGNA executive are showing appreciation for their work ( and play) -in our midst by making the four of .th.em -.:...13RUCE RICHARDSON, B. LE ROY DAVIDSON, JEAN WITT and HOMER METCALF-- HONORARf'L:CFE ' MEMBERS • . ,. INDEX REPORT ·, The index is coming along, but I can't say when it will be finished • . The -·· index will be somewhat more detailed than earlier .ones, but not so that it becomes unwielq.y. It will be in basically the same format, with . main headings for Author, Title, and Subject. However, there will be some _major subheads which have not appeared before, or which will be expanded. I plan to show all illustrations indexed under one of these subheadings, as w~ll as indicated under the other appropriate entries. Thus, illustrations will be indexed at least twice. There will be a geographical grouping. ~hat means you will be able to quickly find articles about "Irises in Missouri," "Irises in Minnesota," etc, Reprints will be specifically noted. Sources of reprints will · also be indexed. Synonymy of species names appeared problematic. But I think I've arrived at a good solution. As for the length, it's too early to give a -good estimate. Eric Tankesley-Clarke ANO ANOTHER I NDEX-- Roy Davidson has put together an I NDEX of articl es from the first 100 AIS 8ULLETI NS listing ''such items as might be of value to non-bearded prien tation." If you would li'· e a copy, send $3.00 to 8. LeRoy Davidson, .2500 Richards Road, Bellevue, WA 98005. 1264 SPECIES REGISTRATIONS FOR 1985 ::RACHANICA ~MI.KIJ . ( B • Warburton, R. 1985) • Sdlg. I. astrachanica #-3. species, 18 (46 cm), E-L. s. reddish violet (near RHS 86B); F reddish violet (83B); orange to yellow beard. collected at Kalmikij by Dr. G. I. Rodionenko, Leningrad, Russia, publisher of the species. POLLY SPOm' (R. Duval, R. 1985). I. prismatica, 12-15" (30-38 cm), L. Pale blue-purple, heavily and prominently veined dark blue-purple, large primrose yellow signal patch with faint purple veins1 foliage flushed purple at base of fans. Unknown orig. i n; receive· d f rom Chug i a Nursery (Japan) as I. laevigata ··Nana.• VEIN MOUNTAIN (R. Duval, R. 1985). I. cristata, 4-5" (10-12 cm), E. s. pale blue; F. pale blue with prominent deep violet line outlining orange crests. Origin unknown, received from T. Kusanagi (Japan) as !.:.. gracilipes. JGW SIGN~ SLIDE COLLECTION REPORT Currently, SIGNA has three slide programs available. A. genera~ program, the set suitable for Judge's Training and, with the advent of the slide program change in AIS, the older set entitled "The Wild Ones." The sets remained active through most of last year and were met with much enthu siasm, especially the Judge's Trai!"l.ing program. We owe a debt of gratitude to Jean Witt and LeRoy Davidson for the clear and concise coounentary that accompanies these sets when they go out for viewing. Five people donated slides to the collection last year and our special thanks to them all. There is good diversity in the slides donated and they are a welcome addi tion to the collection. They will be used to replace older slides in the current sets and to update them with new subjects. SIGNA is always grate ful to receive new slide donations, either original or duplicated ones; so when you ,are out photographing your favorite species this Spring, take two and think of SIGNA. We' 11 see that they get seen by as many people as possible. Colin Rigby T~_fASUR·E-R-1·5-REJ?.ORT Gene Opton t/ · 12;31ias _.. · ) · CASH ON HAND .,. $ 10,418.87 ' -~------~ . 4 -~------4,...... RECEIPTS EXPENDITURES Membership Dues $ 1,345.50 SIGNA $ 1,722.98 Publications 148.50 . Officers 204. 79 Interest 645.36 Translation 27.50 Seed Exchange (1984) 495.16 Convention Display 40.84 Other 350.00 Total $ 2,984.52 $ 1,996.11 1265 19 February 1986 NOMINATING COMMITTEE REPORT Dear Joan, Elaine Hulbert asked me to notify you of the results the nominating committee's efforts, so that you can publish our nominations in the spring issue of SIGNA. They are as follows: Chairman: Elaine R. Hulbert Route 3, Box 57 Floyd, VA 24091 Vice-Chairman: Lee Welsh 7979 West D Avenue Kalamazoo , MI. 49009 Secretary: Florence E. Stout 150 N. Main St. Lombard, IL 60148 Treasurer: Gene Opton 12 Stratford Road Berkeley, CA 94707 We were very fortunate that all four of our current officers agreed to serve an additional term. The way our members are scattered ·over the continent, it's quite difficult to know each other well enough to· · determine who is ready, willing, and able to take on some of these jobs. I would also ~ike to take this opportunity to ask our members not to be shy. I'm sure there's a lot of untapped talent out there. Anyone who might be interested in holding an office, whether elective or appointive, should let me know. An expression of interest (or just seeking more information about the duties) is not a committment to take on the job·! l'.11 pass the information along to Elaine, to use if any appointed offices nee~ to. be fjll'ed during her term, and to add tp th~ c.andidate pool for the next nomin~ting committee. Sincerely, Sharon McAllister 902 Loya Lane Las Cruces, NK 88005 Nominating Committee: · Sha_ron McAllister, Chairman Clarence Mahan Dodo Denney IRIS SOURCES UPDATE By Alan McMurtrie I don' t know how many of you purchased iris species last year, but there were an exciting number available. A few things weren't available that had peen the previous year. I heartily suggest you check out catalogs this year and try a few. It' s a real treat to have things blooming for four ~onths. I love to putter around and see how everything's doing, one side 6f the garden, back to the other, seein.g what's just popped through the ground, I must go see how the cristata' s have done, • • • there's a trilliun ~oming up beside ••• what a joy--all the beauty. ! New Listings I. sofarana Knaussch: Avon Bulbs I. reticulata coll. Sirvan, Turkey: Potterton & Martin I. histrioides coll. Turkey: Potterton & Martin Note: I. kolpakowskiana was available last year from Potterton & Martin Additional Seed Sources Monocot Seeds Mauer Rare Perennial Nursery Jacklands Bridge P.O. Box 18754 Tickenharn, Clevedon Seattle, WA Avon U.S. A. 98118 England B521 6SG - ask for bulbous plants list - 22 iris listed, of which - catalog price $_1 12 were from subgenus 22 apogon iris listed Xiphiurn and Scorpiris. Caution For the past couple of years Potterton and Martin have been selling the reticulata GORDON as I . bakeriana. They said "we are unhappy with our stock." I would strongly urge you ~ to buy it from them, unless they mention in their catalog that they have secured a new source for it. . . ._:' .· ;.:. i Please do write to me. I need your help to know of any changes: new sources, companies going out of business, complaints/comments, incorrectly iabeled species, etc. My address is listed inside the front cover. !• * * * * * * * * * * * * Q~STIONS PLEASE HE ··THAT_NOTHING QUESTIONETH, NOTHING LEAR NETH: 1 . _ The iris we grow here as DOROTHEA K._WILLIAMSON is a vivid, velvety, very dark red-purple, but we find ·DKW described in Indian Spring farms' 1928 cata lo~ue as "large, velvety flowers of the most vivid blue-pu~ple.'' They also gi~e the impression, ~ased on the description of CACIQUE as a better grower, that DKW might not grow well whereas ours nee ds frequent restra ining. Obvi~ ously location can affect growth habits, and we have noted other occasions where color may be in the eye of the ba11older, but we wonder-- Joan Cooper 1267 NEW TAXA OF IRIS L. FROM CHINA Zhao Yu-tang Iris o~ifolia Y. T. Zhao, sp. nov. (wanye ·yuanwei; _"curved-leaf iris") ll!J!Jf-llN. Rb.izoma crassum, lnteo-b~eum, circ. 2 . cm ·diam. Radices crnssae, upicc pauci ramosae. Vaginae foliorum panlo inflatae prope basin. Folia. falciformia, 10-20 cm longa, 1-:--1.5 cm late., lntiora in medio, apice aeuminata vel brevi-acum.inata. Scapus 8-- 10 cm altus, aphyllus; spathae phylla. 3, herbacea, 5-6 cm longa, 1.3-1.8 cm lat.a, mru- gine membranaeea,· lan~olata, apicc acuminata., 2-flora. Flores lutei, 4.5-6 c.:m dia"m.,· brnnneo-strioiati, gubsessiles; tubus perigonii 2--3 cm longos; segmenta perigonii ex teriora. circ. 4.5 cm longa, 1.5 c.m lata, obovnta, ad co Iris curvifolia Y. T. Zhao 1. plant; 2. fruit. (Illustration: Yu Zhenzbou) 1268 NEW TAXA OF IRIS L• . FROM CHINA Similar to I. bloudowii Ledeb. (cl.a huangjin yuanwei, 11 large golden iris 11 ), but in this species the flowering stem is shorter; the leaves are falcate; and the bracts are broadly lanceolate, acu rninate at the apex, and not inflated. Also similar to I. scariosa Willd ex Link {mobao yuanwei, "membranaceous-bract iris''), but in this species the flowers are yellow, and the fruit is obovoid and very shortly beaked. - Xinjiang: Bole, Zhang Yanfu, 10 June 1976, no number (type specimen, preserved at Northeastern Teacher's University); 20 Jon north of Toll, Xinjiang Zongkao Dui (Xinjiang Comprehensive Team] ?928; Habahe,_ Tielieke, unnamed collector 10.35?. Iris sanguinea Donn ex Hornem var. yixingensis Y. T. Zhao, var. nov. (y{xrng :id sun, 11Yi.Y.ing brook fragrant-grass") :O:~~Jl; A typo differt vaginis f'olli argenteo-nitidis, fructibus circ. 4.5 cm longis, 0.8-1 ?m diam. incanis. This variety differs from the species type in the leaf sheath which bas a silvery white metallic luster, and in the fruit which is about 4.5 cm long, 0.8-1 cm in diameter, and clad with soft gray ish white hairs. Jiangsu: Yixing, .18 April 1914, P. Courtois 9282 (type speci men, preserved at Jiangsu Institute of Botany); 22 April 1932, 5180; 18 May 1925, 21008 (type in fruit, preserved at Jiangsu Institute of Botany). Iris proantha Diels var. valld::i. (Chien) Y. T. Zhao, comb. nov. I. pseudorossii Chien var. valida Chien in Contr. Biol. lab. Sci. Soc. China Bot. ser. 6:74-75, 1931. (cuzhuang xiao yuanwei, "sturdy little iris") fflft,j,~~ In the original description of Iris proantba (1924), Diels states that, because the outer perianth segments Jack appendages, (the species) ought to belong to Sect. Apogon {in the Rodioninko system, Subg. Limniris). Actually, in the original species the outer perianth segments bear a short, smooth crest which should place the species in Sect. Evansia (in the RocltonL~ko system, Subgen. Crossiris), but which is not easily observ~d after the speci.~en is pressed, re sulting in an erroneous description. later, Chien Chong-shu renamed the original species Iris pseudorossii Chien {1931). The author con siders the tv10 to be synonymous. Die 1s • s de scrlption, though erro neous, was published earlier and remains valid; therefore the name I. pseudorossii Chien should be dropped in favor of I. proantha Diels, but with the varietal epithet v-c:1.lida retained in a new combination. 1269 --continued Henan: Xinyang, Jigong Shan, ~ June 1966, Guan Dai 251. Anhui: Langya Shan, Zuiweng Ting, beneath the forest. Deng Ma.obin 3042. Zhejiang: Ninebo, Zhong Buqin 4?; Dong Tianrou Shan (Ea.st Tian- mu Mountain), Xiangl-..ili, 15 May 1957, Hang Cai (:2)21683. * * * 1 · Zhao Yu-tang is in the Department of Biology, Northeastern Teacher's University, Changchun, Jilin Province, People's Republic .. of China. These descriptions ware original],y published in filrr&. · Phytotaxonomica Sinica 20: 1, pages 99-100, February 1982. Trans lated from the Chinese by Judy YoW'lg, Seattle, Washington. * * * * * * * * * * ERRATA and ADDENDA Regarding Hybrid CACIQUE After re-reading my letter that appeared in SIGNA #35 . on Page 1258. I decided to write and add some· new information. Also, in reviewing my references, it seemed to rne that in the interest of exactness I should revise the second sentence of paragraph two: a) Replace "subspecies" with "variety," and· b) Replace "hybridized" with "introduced." The refe~ence on savannarum is MANUAL OF CULTIVATED PLANTS, revised edition, by L. H. Bailey. This text lists savannarum as I , hexagona var. Savannarum. R. Foster (I. savannarum, Small). My reference for the · source of CACIQUE is AIS 'BULLETIN #255, which states that CACIQUE was introduced by Berry, but only infers that he "placed the pollen," which I suspect that he did, As additional information, · I have attempted, thus far without success, to germin_ate seeds ·from the many pods that were set by CACIQUE in 1985. · The seeds ap~<;1,~ed, to be deformed (puckered sides). I suspect that they are missing either;,._ embryo or endospeZ'l!l, I would be interested to learn whether any of ou~ r~~deFs have eve~ obtained seedlings from CACIQUE X CACIQUE. Jim Rhodes--Glendora, CA 1270 IRIS BRANCHING . IN TWO MORE SPECIES I . perri eri, green, keel ed spathes· ·. I . aphylla, f r om Hungary, spathes tinted purple. (Thi-s ~l one Jean raised f rom seed which came from Hungary.) Jean Witt--Seattle WA 1271 IRIS SPECIES FOR SHALLOW WATER Eberhard Schuster Au911stenhof, East Germany {Note: Eberhard Schuster grows and markets an extensive collection of bog and water plants in East Germany. He writes that he is enlarging his pools by 21 0 square meters and is enlarging his stock to .. 100,000 plants for spring, 1986. He has written a book--we presume on water gardening--now in its second printing. Your editor feels somewhat presumptuous to be adding to Mr. Schuster's article the results of. searching the AIS CHECKLISTS to see which cultivars have been or may have been registered, but that is what appears in brackets below. ED] Among the about 150 to 200 known . species of irises, there are ones which can grow in shallow water. (5-10 cm/2"-4") all the year round. They are very good plants for the water garden and ahsolut~ly . hardy in colder regions such as here in Germany. The species and thelr varieties make a nice point of interest in full bloom in the garden. The best place for them is in full sun, but they will toler~te part shade, too. They like heavy soil, rich in nutritive substances, because they are heavy feeders. They like to get additional fertilizer which will bring many flower buds. You will have poor bloom in poor soil. You can propagate the ~pecies and varieties by dividing the rhizomes, best in Spring or Fall. The species can be propagated by seeds, too. rris laevigata is native to eastern Siberia, Japan, Korea and China. The plants reach a height of 60 to 80 cm (23"-34") and their yellow-green leaves are smooth, without a midrib. The standards of most flowers are narrow and typically erect. The falls droop slightly. Many hybrids; forms and varieties are in cultivation, some with standards and falls of the same shape or with six drooping falls. These are called "double" forms • .. There are small and large sized flowers. The true I. laevigata, the type, has deep blue flowers, faintly lined with gold on the three falls. Varieties and forms are: "Alba" - snow-white, a beautiful form of I. laevigata, with three falls only. You often find the mistake ( including in the book THE WORLD OF IRISES) that "Alba" is a form with six drooping falls. [LAEVIGATA ALBA was registered by Wallace . & Co., Colchester, England, 1915.] ALBOPURPUREA- white flowers, falls flecked caerulean-blue, double, reblooms sometimes in September. [Registered, Baker 1896.) "Atropurpurea" brilliant violet-purple-blue [LAEVIGATA ATROPURPUREA, Wada 1935) Benikiren" - a shade of blue, attract1vely washed and mottled silver. · "Colchesteri" - pure white, large flowers which are heavily mottled rich blue to make a white edging effect, double. [COLCHESTERENSIS, Wallace 1910,J "Monstr.os"'"¥ - wh1· te standards wh ic· h are a 1 it· tl e bit monstrose, blue f a 11s, double. ·;2?2 IR IS SPECIES FOR SHALLOW WATER MOTTLED BEAUTY - cream-white standards, falls are white flecked with pale blue blotches [Perry' s Farm 1960, intrpduced 1946] •Muragumo" - a lovely shade of deep blue faintly lined gold, double, Japanese variety "Niagara" - ice-blue, double PERFIELD BEAUTY - deep blue, very large [Perry' s Farm 1960, introduced 1946] REGAL - rose magenta flowers [Perry's Farm registered 1960, as "laevigata· type invol.ving ROSE QUEEN," introduced 1947) ROSE QUEEN - a lovely shade of soft rose, small flowers, hybrid with I. ensata (kaempferi) [this name is listed as Jap double, Lily 1915. Is it different? Anybody know?) ROYAL CARTWHEEL - Navy blue purple with deep white slash down the center of each petal, double. (Reid 1981) "Semperflorens" - deep blue violet, rebloomer. [LAEVIGATA SEMPERFLORENS, Perry 1919) "Snowdrift" - very l a rge pure white f l~!ers, marbled yellow at the base, double. "Variegata" ("Elegantissima") - dainty pale blue flowers, green and white } vertically patterned leaves. My favorite water iris. [LAEVIGATA VARIEGATA , Van Tubergen 19 16) VIOLET PARASOL - blue violet, double [Hager 77) "Walderbach" - clear blue without lines, selected in Germany "Weibe Mowe"- white, up to 1 rn (40") height, very attractive, selected in Germany "Zambesi" soft blue In Japan a lot of varieties with e xotic names are in culture, for instance 'Orizuru,' 'Seiryu,' 'Washino-o,' 'Akebono,' 'Toki-no-Hane,• ' Gosho-kou,' 'Jashi-no-Wo' and othe r s . I have about 20 varieties in my colle ction. But some older ones, e. g . 'Niagara,' PERFIELO BEAUTY or ' Zambe6i' are not com mercially available any more. Maybe , they are still growing in some iris collection. If any of the readers b as these varieties in his garden, I would be very glad if he would contact me. I. l aevigata and forms are the only true water irises , it means that they grow best in shallow water all the year round. You must grow them under such conditions in our climate. The rhizomes will suffer from frost if planted in beds. The other species will tolerate normal garden beds or shallow water and thrive wider such conditions. Iris pseudacorus is called "Yellow Water fl;:ig." The species is native to Europe, western Asia and northern Africa. The plants have 2-3 cm (approx. 1 " ) broad sword- like foliage up to 1 m ( 40") height or even more with large rich yellow flowers. Falls are lined brown; standards are small - - continued 1273 and upright. The rh.izomes branch freely and ~re rosy tinted with anthocyanin pigments. In cultivation and commercially available, are the fol lowing forms: "Double" ("Flore Pleno") - a double form, looks more curious than beautiful "Golden Gigantea" - introduced from Siberia, up to 2 m. (80" 1) or more tall, · deep yellow. [PSEUDACOROS GIGANTEA (Collected Italy) Berry 1922?] '!Golden Queen" - (syn. var. superba) - deep yellow without markings on· falls. [PSEUDACORUS GOLDEN QOEEN Gibson 1938] "E. Turnipsee d" - cream white "Nanus" ("Dwarf Form") - a dwarf form, about 50 cm (20") high "Ivory" ("Alba") - ivory- white flowers, markings in good contrast ,· "Primrose Monarch" - up to 2 m (80") or more high lilce 'Golden Gigantea' but flowers paler "Su lphur Queen" ( syn. var. bastardii) - sulfur yellow with markings · on fal ls. Collected wild in North Wales. Fl owers are high above the top of foliage· [PSEUDACORUS _BASTARDI Farr 1912) "Variegata" - brig~t gol den-yell ow striped foliage passing to · pal e green : ,,during the summer. Small f l owers. Not ~uch an eyecatching form as I. laevigata ' Variegata' · [PSEUDACORUS FOLIIS VARIEGATIS Salter, London, England 1861] A rare orange form is available, too. In r ecent years · tetrapl oid forms are in cultivati on. Their flowers have much better substance and their for m. is .. more f l aring. They are useful for breeders to cross with tetrapl oid· forms of I . ensata (kaempferi). Such tetrapl.oid forms of I. pseudacorus ai7·e: " Bad Schachen" - deep gold yellow, deepest color of all forms BEURON - gol.d-yellow, overhanging foliage [Berlin 1979) FAHLE ILGE - sulfur-yellow, overhanging foliage [Berlin 1979] ILGENGOLD - gold-yellow, erect foliage (Berlin 1979] " Zitrone" - soft-yellow, free..;blooming form . Iris versicolor, called ' Blue Flag' · i .s the American 'equivalent to t:he European I. pseudacorus. The plants grow ~n siro.il'ar : 'places--in shallow 1 . water, wet marshes or in the damp border. They are native to , 'the northeastern United States as far north as Canada, west to Minnesota, south to Virginia. The plants range in size up to 80 cm (30") and more height. The standards are shorter than the falls which have a white- yellow, violet veined base. The flowers of the type have a blue purple color. But there are many other color forms available, e.g.: 1274 IRIS SPECIES FOR SHALLOW WATER--continued "Alba" - pure white, smaller in size, dwarf form "Claret Cup" -dark red violet [In 1940 checklist as synonym for KERMESINA But clone in commerce here is decidedly redder than KERMESINA] KERMESINA - deep purple [Perry 1901] ROSEA - soft pale rose, smaller in ~ize (Cleveland 1927] STELLA MAIN - pale blue [Main 1927) OLIVER PEASE - red purple [E. Wood, 82] MINT FRESH - white veined red [Warburton 82) MOUNTAIN BROOK - light blue, blooming earlier (Kennedy 85] VERNAL - clear orchid pink (Sindt 84) VERSION pink, dwarf growing [Sindt 84) WILD WINE - dark red [Sindt 84] I. versicolor and its forms have generous branching, numerous buds and graceful flowers. Therefore, they are excellent garden plants. In recent years, crosses of I. versicolor with I. laevigata (Versi-Laev hybrids) are available, made by Dr. Tamberg (West Berlin). They combine the best qualities of their parents. They are very free blooming with larger flowers than I. versicolor. A cross of I. versicolor with I. pseudacorus is available in England, too. It is about the size of I. pseudacorus with yellowish flowers lined blue. The flower form is more like I. versicolor. GERALD DARBY, surely a hybrid with r. virginica, is a hardy variety for shallow water, too, here in our German climate.- It is a strong grower with elegant flower stems high above the top of the foliage. The base of the foliage and the flower sterns are colored purple, a decorative garden effect. The flowers are bJ.ue, look like I. virginica. . [See "New Identity of Iris GERALD DARBY, Page • ] All these irises are absolutely hardy here and can stand in shallow water year round. Other species, e.g. I. ensata, I. virginica, I. setosa or I. chrysographes don' t suffer if they stand in shallow water for a while, but they are not true water irises. There is a group of irises, too, for shallow water which we should not forget. I mean the Louisianas, I. fulva, I nelsonii, 1. giganticaerulea, I. brevicaulis and the many hybrids. They need special care in our German climate, but it is possible to grow them here with success. I. brevicaulis is the only hardy species of them. Iris species and varieties for the water garden are the most important ones of my collection. 1275 We quote and re~rint fro~ the Canadian Iris Society Newsletter: "The following article by Canadian Iris Society member, Dr. Norman Track, is printed in its entirety here so that none of the magic of his quest will be.: lost through interruption. In these days of bus1.ness travel the mysterious Orient can seem almost a-s close as one's backyard; not a few ?f us ar~ bound to have the good fortune to travel in Japan at some point in the future. But now let us share the joys, the frustrations and the sheer beauty of Norman' s search for the ••• " (CIS editor) JAP1\,NESE WILD IRISES Dr. Norman Track Six ,.,najo~ species of wild irises ex-1st in Japan. Living in Shizuoka, about 180 km south~est of Tokyo, I was in a central location with respect to the known wild iris areas in central Honshu (main island). The season starts with I. rossii which blooms the beginning of May in the mountains near Beppu, Kyushu (south island); it is not found on Honshu. On April 30th, I · packed 35 kg of photographic equipment (professional video camera, video tape recorder, micro color TV monitor, two 35 mm camera bodies, six lenses, · t~o tripods, plus f~i.m. and accessories) into my car and departed from Shizuoka for the six hour expressway drive to Osaka. From Osaka I took the car ferry to Beppu. After the 14. hour overnight car ·ferry trip to Beppu, I was met at the dock by a local iris enthusiast and shown the major areas in the .. nearby mountains where I. rossii was blooming. I. rossii grows to a height of 10-12 cm ·with a single light purple bloom with a broad white haft pattern.· The irises. grow i n · dry soil on north facing slopes of Mt . Yfu at an elevation of about 800 meters. They are found in the open or at the base of small oak trees either separately or in clumps of six to eight plants •. Returning to Shizuoka on Saturday evening, May 4th, · I spoke,= with Mr. Kamo who informed me that I. laevigata was in fuil bloom near Okazaki. That evening I charged the batteries for my video equipment and was on the road the ne~t morning, May 5th, at 5: 00 a.rn. to collect Mr. Kamo · for the two h9ur expressway drive to Okazaki. 1\bout 15 km from Okazaki is Ko zutsum.i ~j,shi Ike, the pro.tected ·iris area. The marsh area is .surrounded on three sides by rice fields and by· a dense forest on the fourth, and is at an -ele vation .of about 100 .mete~s. · I. laevigata grows to a _ height of 55-60 cin and each plant has two rich purple blooms with fine, slender white haft patterns. Most plants were in clumps of 20- 25 but smaller clumps and single p~ants were seen. One area had plants with deep burgundy blooms. The next several weeks were spent attempting to obtain accurate information about .the location and blooming of I. gracilipes. l: received word that it was blooming near Gotemba on the upper slopes of Mt. Kintoki. I drove northe~s.t from Shizuoka for about one hour on the expre·ssway to Gotemba arriving around 6:30 a.m. at the parking area at the base of Mt. Kintoki. I loade~ up all my equipment and climbed Mt. Kintoki for two hours and ·then walked along the top ridge. The north facing slope with beech trees had a 35 degree straight drop. I could not see any way that I was going down the 1276 JAPANESE WILD IRISES- 'slope with all the equj.pment on a treasure hunt. I returned after five _hours out on a mountain with only a sun ·tan. The ·following Friday, June '_7th, I returned to the exact spot on Mt. Kintoki with a guide and together ;we descended the slope for about 200 meters and found two plants. I • .gracilipes grows on north facing slopes at an elevation of about 1200 meters. The plants reach a height of 8-12 cm with three blooms per stem; -the blooms are light blue with fine detailed yellow/white haft patterns. ·They grow mainly as separate plants. I. setosa grows in the Oze marsh area north of Tokyo. I left Shizuoka at .3:00 a.m. for the eight hour drive to Oze. I arrived around 12:30 p.m. and gathered my equipment for the three lcm walk into the marsh area. After 'reaching the lodge, I scouted- the area and found very few irises in bloom, only I. laevigata. After several telephone calls with Dr. Hirao, I decided _to leave the next morning because I. setosa was not in bloom. After walking back the three Jan to the parking area, I drove down the mountain road and around 9 :30 a.m. telephoned Dr. Hirao to ask him if he could !)btain instructions to find 1. sanguinea. I arrived at Shizuoka at 7:30 p.m., telephoned Dr. Hirao, obtained the directions and charged my video batteries. At 5:00 a.m. the next morning, I left for Mt. Mitsutoge, which is near Lake ~awaguchi, north of Mt. Fuji. It was raining lightly. I heard on the radio that a tropical storm was to pass close to the coast that day. - I reached the base of Mt. Mitsutoge around 7:30 a . m., parked my car and ~tarted the two hour hike to the top ( three km straight up). As it was raining, I left the equipment in the car. About 300 meters from the top, I found several large areas of I. ear.guinea. The rain persisted and I retreated. · The next morning, July 1st, at 4:30 a.m., I awoke and saw a break in the clouds; I was back at Mt. Mi tsutoge by 8: 00 a.m. It was a beautiful day; the irises were a bit beaten by the tropical storm from the previous day. I. sanguinea grows at an elevation of about 1700 meters in dry soil on north facing slopes. The plants are about 35-40 cm in height with two blooms per stem; the blooms are royal blue with fine detailed . yellow/white haft patterns. Most plants are in clumps of 15-20 while ~thers are in smaller clumps or stand alone. The following Sunday, July 7th, I left for Oze again1 this time with f-1,r. lCamo. After arriving at the lodge , we made a quick survey finding a peautiful area of I. laevigata but very few I. setosa. It was raining. It rained on and off the next morning and we were unsuccessful in our attempts to make a video tape of I. laeviga ta. However, we made an important discovery; the major area for -r. setosa was at the other end of the Oze tnarsh. On the following Sunday, July 14th, Mr. Kamo and I were on our way to Oze again. · This time we went to the othe r end of the park a~d could drive within 1. 5 km of the lodge . This sav~d a five km hike with all the equip ment. The weather was perfect; 1. setosa was in full bloom. I had per mission to walk in the marsh area to photograph. I. .setosa has three blooms per plant, two at the terminal and one on a branch. The blooms are light purple with fine detailed white haft patterns. They grow 35-40 cm in height in marshy areas and are found as single plants or in clumps of 10-15. The elevation in this area of Oze is about 1200 meters. --continued 1277 I· laevigata at Oze blooms 9-10 weeks later than those near Okazaki; they are shorter in height (25-30 cm) and have a deeper purple color. Distinct differences in temperature, altitude and soil conditions at these . two lo9at~on~ contribute to these differences • . Th~ following Sunday, July 21st, I was · off with the Kamo fa!11ily, to Mt. ,. Kirif.Jar~ne which is northwest· from Shizuoka near Lake SUW<:l • It is a seven . ~our· drive from Shizuoka.. It. started to rain lightly as we arri.V:ed. ·. A _local park official took us to the major areas for I. ensata and also ~here we might see I. setosa hondoensis. This is the only place .. in Japan for this ., '.l;arie.ty of I. setosa. At about 4:30 p.m. , . there was .;_ _tremendou~ thunder :storm. we found a lodge away from the main area and, before dinner, 'i went out to survey the area around the ·lodge. About 150 metres from ~he lodge, I discov~red a beautiful area of I. ensata. I searched unsuccessfully through t he marsh areas for I. setosa hondoensis. The following morning, July 22nd, at 5:00 a.m. in the beautiful sunlight, I photographed I. ensata. They are found at an elevation of about 1800 meter~ in both dry and marshy areas. Each plant has two reddish blooms .with fine, deep yellow haft patterns. The plants grow 35-40 cm in height ~i~her. as single plants or in clumps of 10-'15. Not ha.v-in_g permission to . walk. -in .the .marsh area, I walked down a small river bed on . the stones to get a close enough look to confirm the presence of, and:. pho~ograph, .!.:. s.etosa. hondoensis. All the plants I could see were · 1 •., .-ensata. . After extensive searching, I do not believe that I~ setosa hondoensis exists in the wild in the Kirigamine area. Frc;,m seeing the irises in the wild and from my photographs, I can say that one 9an ob~ain completely· different impressions about the. ar~hi~eqture and color of the plants depending upon which stage in the iris life cycle one observes and the i~tensity and direction of the. natural lighting. One could easily describe many minor· varieties of each major .speci~s. , I have a photograph that looks exactly like the flower that people claim ·to be.!.:. se~osa hondoensis at Kirigamine; it is a photograph oft. setosa from Ozel Success in completing this Japanese wild iris project depended greatly upon assistance from Dr. Hirao and Mr . Kame. * * * * * * * * * * * * A THEORY ON FRAGRANCE ;.. · Would you perhaps go · for the idea that scented iris are more or less ancestral (or primitive) and that scentlessness is a derived condition? In the siherians, which tend to. seif-pollinate, fragrance may have been lost for lack of adaptive advantage -- no selective pressure for fragrance. Another explanation might be found in conventional Mendelian genetics; both parents of a scentless flower migh~ carry recessive genes · which are( via the usual reassortment, expressed wfien: full rec·essive comple~ent occurs (aabb) • A third possibility might lie within mutations; which of · course are unpredictable with a high percentage having no adaptive advantage, and in fact commonly tending to be deleterious. Letter to R.D. from Homer Metcalf "1278 -·i 1 MCLELAND,. S "VERSIVA •. HYBRIDS - Iris X Robusta Roy Davidson A~though we've not been using the name, it is all but a certainty that one or more fonns of Iris X Robusta have been for some time in cultivation - or, if not, superior water irises have been sadly overlooked, which seems m9.st unlikely under the circumstances, and then there are others, which are at least named. Edgar 1\.nderson in 1928 gave the name to those plant.a he found at the zone of contact between Iris versicolor and~ virginica an4 w~ich could n()t be assigned· to either of those species. His collected ~terial was grown at Mis·souri "Botanical Garden in st. Louis, where at the time AIS had established one of its several test gardens. Plants were e~changed freely between these, others of which were at Morton Arboretum, C6rnell, and the New York and Brooklyn Botanic Gardens; others, established l~ter, possibly also received some of the hybrid for evaluation. ; ~ Anderson also made crosses at Missouri Botanic Garden which yielded his own h1rbrids, and in reporting on them he mentioned the prior work of Dr. J. R. M~eland of Pleasanton, Kansas. ' AtS Bulletin 32 (July 1929) carries McLeland's own report. He called his htbrids "Versivas" and wrote that some were over four feet, with color, s~ape and branching of versicolor and ·height and flower size of virginica, exen to taller and more robust, and nearly always with the beautiful y~llow-to-orange signal-patch or "splotch" of this larger parent. One sihected strain had sparse, low foliage yet was extremely floriferous, and another had flowers resembling those of the best Siberians yet with coarser f~liage, as would be expected. , . Missouri Botanic Garden features aquatic plants in extensive plantings and p·ends and pools. One of the l arge nurseries dealing in . aquatics was lpcated at St. Louis, and it seems most likely that at least some of the ~terial offered as "Blue Water Flags" in many nursery lists was actually tl1e hybrid Robusta, as we now know it • . , c·tt is my own opinion that, aside from un-named and unidentified examples wj! have in gardens at present, GERALD DARBY is certainly an outstanding clone of this hybrid raised by Mr. Darby in England some twenty years ago, ~~ is the recently christened OLIVER PEASE. The former with me this last r~ar had four-foot flower stalks of rich aubergine and leaves strikingly ~iolet-painted almost half way, which by seed time had lost some of their b,:tilliance but had elongated to. almost six feet. The flower is adequate ~pd of~ harmonious blue-purple defined by whitish patches, while that of \:-lie latter is of . a reddish cast and very fine form. Both have standards f~ more "ample" than · is characteristic of · versicolor, and rather than 1!.~ing sort of blunted were more nearly lance-shaped, which is typical of v,irginica. )· One is inclined to think that in and around st. Louis and Pleasanton there jµst must be garden plants of Anderson-McLeland origin. 1279 1 WHAT s ·ffi IN THE WATER GARDEN? 1 ,: Junes; 198, ~ LeRoy Davidson It is that time · of year when the garden is overflowing with irises_. In fact there i~ so much going on out there it is distracting. I am 9onvinced anew every year that spring all over again is just NOT .for ~; . .I .am .a fall bloomer, obviously. ·,·· .. The great surpris~ - was· the flowering of a · pseudacorus received here five years ago from Mr. Horinaka of Japan as "nearest to white." It ~s so very white that I nearly- broke a leg getting over to where it was .. flowering at the sunny head of the little ravine. In this time it had proauced . this one stalk and had two fans, but it was two years in a pot before it. got into the ground and may be more vigorous than I know. On opening the flower is ivory and there is a pretty etching of lightly penciled vio?-~~ .. in the typical kind of pattern; th~ whole thing is fresh and clean, very··· nearly r~al white, close enough for ~e. ·The white setosa from Japan was a month ahead of last year, gone before ·any ·other ·came into flower. It features very purplish· spathes and stalk, so there is nice contrast. It is not so clean a white, but the ice-blue nl!.arly fades out by the time the flower is fully expanded, and th~re ·are plenty of flowers on each stalk, making a really fine, airy garden ef~ect • . The amethyst colored foetidissima from Carmarthenshire, Wales~ has proven a f ·avorite with everybody who has se~n it. ·,·. There is a pinkness to the styles ·. ( really buff or beige) a pretty contrast. Stalks are not as widely branched_as some but give a full month of blossoms and the foliage is very ·good all year, even when we had minus 12° F two winters back. Two of Eckard Berlin's tetraploid pseudacorus have made good clumps; they are ·-of· a de.eper gold than any other I have seen, with flowers of heavier substance and stiffly open, more tailored shape. It was difficult tQ assess the keeping qualities in this very wet and cold iris season, but they ap~ar to last especially well, another advantage. The University of Washington arboretum has a fine stand of pseudacorus ·in the undisturbed marshy Fosters Island portion, a wild-life preserve on Lake Washington now bisected by a freeway. But the wildlife hasn't minded, and since it was developed with a nature walk around the perimeter; many persons hike through. At this time of year people from their· autos on tjle bridge a!'\d the hikers too may enjoy the spectacle of the ·golden irises. Yesterday Jean Witt and I went over and had a f ierd day looking_.- at literally hundreds of seedlings tha:t have arisen in the shallow backwaters. There is at least - one colony of ·the· pa.le yellqw (bastardii) ·perhaps alJ_ a single c lone cohnected .by long-traveling rhizo.mes--the water level of the lake was so high fol l;,,ing the month . · of rain we had trouble in that 1280 WHAT'S NEW IN THE WATER GAROEN--continued ~espect. One plant that was especially striking had mahogany stalks and the same stain part way up the leaves. Another had an especially prominent signal of rich brown and on the claw positively silky orange-brown ipdumentum that peeked out from the depths of the bee-channel beneath the styles. A third was a nice dainty little thing wi:th sort of rounded ~lowers nicely poised on slim stalks, an arranger's flower. ' These irises came of their own accord, probably from discarded plants from a lakeside garden or from seed floated i~. The variation is greater than among my own self-sown seedlings over a fifteen year period. The arboretum was kind enough to let us collect some of the variants. Jean had a fine clump of Eckard' s cross of setosa-sanguinea hybrid and a ~~ry good garden color it is, with an intensity that really carries. I am ~nxious to add a plant of this to some of the moist, slightly higher ground !n the water garden. The Japanese garden at the Arboretum allowed us to . take a piece of a tall and handsome red-purple I. ensata (kaempferi) and of .!• setosa 'Kirigamini' (var. hondoensis), and s';veral forms of:!• laevigata ~hat Jean had originally imported from northern Japan some years ago. From Mr. Horinaka' s descriptions we hope to be able to .Put names to them. One q f the more striking variegated irises was among them, far more contrasty t;han one I had brought from Japan in 1972. J We are developing an enlarged water garden planting here towards the ~rospect of entertaining the AIS in 1984. I have long had a desire to have a white or "Moonlight" garden, and one section of this development is planned around that idea. It will be reflected in an acre of pond. • • "bite bark, white flowers, white fruits and variegated or pallid foliages q f all sorts~ Guest Irises are welcomed. ' ~OSTCRIPT: Here at the end of July there are second stalks and a continuwn df flowers on an I. versicolor var. kermesina; very good performance. (We are sorry that this item was overlooked these several years, but feel it still has much of interest to SIGNA. ED) l * * * * * * * * * * * fURTHER NOTE ON IRIS HEXAGONA Roy Davidson .'SIGNA has published (p. 922) a drawing as taken from .. G.odfrey and Wooten . "Aquatic and wetland Plants of Southeastern United States (Univ. of Georgia, .'..1979) . The key to this treatment of !rises offers the separation between ·: I. brevicaulis,· flowering stem 2-4 dm high· (8-16 in) slender, shorter than ·the lower leaves, the flowers more or less hidden in the leaves, and ' r. hexagona, flowering stem 8 -12 dm .tall (32- 48 in. • ) a~d .stout, th~ lower leaves sometimes reaching the. inflorescence or only a little exceeding it, : the flowers conspicuously adorning the summit of the plant. Although the ; drawing of the plant in pod would suggest otherwise, the stalk elongat~s ·upwards as the buds expand and thus the flowers~ at the top; the top is . moving upward. .·.~··'"'· .. . 1281 fURTHER NOTE ON IRIS HEXAGONn--continued ~avidson wrote . in the AIS bulletin 230, p . 65 ( 1980), ."If you have been confused about the status of Iris hexagona you ·are not· al,one •••• Some claim h giganticaerulea to be a vilii"nt form of it whi le others insist it is a 'valid species in its own right." Ru.py. Buchanan reviewed the ..~i~ua.tion and !ome- varied options' as to the "right'" interpretation (SIGNA P• ·.1__ 1_83-:88). . . ;his is one 'Of those taxonomic deGiSiC OS hard to arrive at in. . thc,.t_· a · COnc.e"nsus .~f opinio·n is· involved. · Since :1t is· t-11 but impossib;!='· in mo~~ .qases ·· to ·~ell . '{hether . -~me. ·of . th~se beli:>'n_g _with~ hexagona or. ~iganti6aeru1ea, it se~ pe~~cc1y . obvipu·s ·that -sma:11 · ·deeinitely failed to distinguish the latter ·Q~il.i~flac-toi-ily1 ~ chr~somes and' kary >type · aside, they do ~ot. appa.rently :.ti#il:uefice •.• '.•·: ·1:llOrphological ··expression l.:o the degree _that .a~ds . ident.i.ftc4o~.• 'If. .- leg.itima~ly desc%;ibed- taxa cannot be taken as distinct from o~e' ahbthe~. fhe priority· rule allows no · choice: · ·he earliest name is the accepteq·' on~·-·. tt is 'that simple. : . : ! .. . . :~. ! . · ~hus ._ we;- ~av?- ·, , ~picture ~f Iris hexagon~ occurring from Sot?,th carolina thr'?u~):\ ,. '. t~w:·i~a·t~~ ·s?-JQ~ loc~~- forms as Small c 1lled !.!. savannarum.) to th~ G'!l~ :9,?!1~-~:·: " Jwi~p, the· ·occ:§lS~-<>Ml very ·, x-obu:st gia? 1,' ticaerulea fo~ Qf ; Sm~:J-1) : ,a:nd to t~e . les't,;~r .\'.fdnu· of ·~xas {Small's flexica; lie.) There.. is. no ,-· doubt ~t all; that ~h~~~ - <;liffe·r, but we must remember -the ·importance·· -~f _-,Edga'.r.~ .Ande~son•s ~bservation that "the distf:nctions . beti,een the.. i.hdi:viduals ..wi.t}J.i'n ' .a ~pecies .. ,, . l , . •: • , ,• ' I, ' • • ~re of entir~lY..• ~fferent .nature· than those whiciJ..-· sepa~ate . on~ s~.ci-e.~ . f:r;om !not~~I!".•" . ;,--:~4., mad~·. no_ such dist,inct ions in . describ°i~g !.!.,',·gi'gan1:icaerui~a: ¥eyo~g., ;~iic' it;. "@S "larger.". .. : .. · · : · · ; ' · · ' . • · ' · ·.. :~ ·. : ;. ~-;: . ~-: . , . . ' ; . . .· . . : ' .. ~ pa~ rea?~f~·::he.re only rece~tly t .f lls much of this ~t ory--vo·l. ~I. of . "A pynon~~ed c)i_eckl,i.st of the Vascular 'f Lora of ~he U. · s., Canada & Greenland" . published' by"'the Nori:.h. carolina Botank Garden ( 1980)·. r·1 this treatment the following·; dlspos,i.t;.ions· ·we~e proposed: * · · · .. btevlceu fJ ~ gl gentTceeru lea fulV!·. Also syn. brevlpes syn. attlorlstata .c var. flexfcaul Is syn. ecrt stata nelson l I . < t; follose ~ aurl I lnea-c. .var. hexagona X vln·lcolor ~ • cltrlcrlstato, '·, syn. alabemensts syn. chryso mlss~sslpplensts ··~ ·, r: , elephant Ina ,. ,var·. savennan.1111 P~~nlc l.a ) 0 fluvtatalfs , syn. elbfspfrftts .,.. "rac, .. ~ire8 rl mtracutosa X fulV8l8 "J pal udT cola parv Tcaeru lea ...G venuTosti ..:. wherryana ·L- * :This is surely a well intended step ·in the righ! direction and i~ . is· most . unfortunate that the. 56 SmalJ.-Alex~nder taxa here listed as .synonymous ;_ with Iris virginica ~h~uld ha";~ bee~ allowed urider Iri,s x · 1~inibolor 1927, __., I I • • . 1• • ~ ------, which in another en~~ is· ~ll~~d to stand a6 representing the earliest . designation for tlie,. fulva-giganticaerulea hybdd swarms found in nature. ;·In which case- · Randolph's I • .nelsonii may f P.::e ii:iv~_lida tion. ~ese ar~ the same conclusions r .eached· by Ingram Iii D.cass (Bat~eya 16, 92- 7; . 1968) although they -took. no actiqn toward &moting nelaonii, ·apparently satis fied that as a ,;stab-f:lf ied hybrid" it· ,ou,ld bear.. ..~ xc~pt:i~ri- · . : -;: :. .. 1282 REVIEW: THE PROBLEM OF SPECIES IN NOktHERN BLUE FLAGS . - . . . (by Edgar Anderson, Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 15: 23Z-Z41. September. 1928}. -Robert S. Sturtevant Mr. Anderson has given us a scientific treatise on Specfes, -what they are and how they originate, and it is only an incidental that he has selected Irises versicolor and vfrginica as materi~l. It fs · however. a most .· fortunate happenstance as he had studied them -in many localities and the volume-.·gives us many n tustrations as well as charts and ideographs illustrative of . the · wide varfaiions present even in one cplony of native Irises. . , ·· .· . ·Since ·the .blooming period of 1923 Mr. Anderson has ·visited .rnany·.·colonies' of i·rfses ranging from Louisiana and Arkansas to Georgia, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Minnesota. From each colony were collected many records, many specimens, and it is ~rom a comparative study of these that his conclusions are drawn. I shal 1 pass over the 1arger phas~ of the subject and mention but a few points of special interest to t~e iris fan. Iris versfcolor L. was found north of the Potomac, 1n northeastern Ohio, northern Michtgan, Wisconsin, and southern· Minnesota and the northward, whereas Iris .vtrgi nica L. · was found as far south as the Gulf of Mexico and is synonymous w1 th · I. carol ina Radius, carol i ni ana Watson, Shrevi Smal 1. At their point of- contact in distribution there arise natural hybrids newly named I • .robusta Anderson, of an inter.mediate character. In the same colony there occur str~kfng vari atfons in every conceivable characteristic and it was from a mean of many such variations that Mr. Anderson has presented his biometric data in a series of ideographs which fonn an extremely ea~i'ly grasped picture of the variation existing. · He finds ih~t though the individuals in one colony may vary widely, there is but slight variation from colony to colony other than a gradual diminution of I. versicolor in its southern range and a similar diminution of I. virgfnica in its northern limjts.* In the experimental plots the plants from the northern localities tend to flower sooner than those from the southern. A complete albino was found only in I. virginica _whereas both species · developed partial albinos and ~lso deeper-toned varieties such as kennisina. The geneUc relatiqnships are still being studied although Mr. Anderson has sufficient material to make a preliminary report. Before closing this brief ab$tract I wish again to emphasize the splendid illustrations starting with two reproductions from E~ret, G. o., Plantae Oepictae, Tab. YI., 1748, pictures of the original _herbarium material from Dfllenius and Radius and embracing many pictures of the flower, seed, and ., growth variations within the species. AIS Bull. 30 (Jan. 1929) . . *Although Anderson did not so state., it is on the basis of this observation I ,,,.. ... base the opinion that the entity going as ·. "shrevei". (by whatever .taxori_omic " · · rank) must certainly represent -introgression between the two, accounting both for the difficulty in defining. shre.vei and the uncertainty of positively identifying many of the individuals in its range. - Roy Davidson ~· I 1283 NEW IDENTITY OF IRIS 'GERALD DA~Y' (Letters lectding to the event from Anne Blanco White & Roy Davidson) . Dear Mr. Davidson: Somehow your .interest in the Iris GERALD DARBY had escaped ml; attention until this past summer ( 1985) our Yearbook editor sent along a copy of an article by Paul Richardson of New Zealand. Admittedly it had never occurred to me that no steps had been taken to modify the registration claims as to. its parentage; we must certainly do something about ~hat. ~· plants original; ly came from Mr. Coe of Norton Hal 1 . Nursery; : his Mrs •.. Bloomfi;eld had told me that it preferred a sunny ditch; it is recorded as . reaching 30 inches but any stem worth its salt can make five feet with no trouble at all. The pod is very irregular and I reckon that 99% of the seeds are duds, yet oddly this doesn' t seem the case in cold, gray summers. Nigel· Service in ·France has found a s~milar seed-set and, by the way, when. I sent some along to Tomas Tarnberg for embryo. culture last year, he .found · only a ·single viable seed. That stem color too, aubergine I'd c~ll it; not "boot-polish bl.ack" at all, and it is affected by the availabil:l,ty of sunlight. My first two F2 seedlings from it are tactfully different--one with "red" markings at the l eaf base and the other · without, while the flower colors' are not the same, one being bluer and the o.ther nearer to lilac. ,; Until we can resolve an origin, which can . only be based on what , further _generations appear to resemble, and (although you may have seeds of your own by now) I am enclosing some from mine and would be interested in your. comments. Dear Mrs. White: The pods and t~~ir contents came in fine condition due to your careful packaging and the parcel ·was not even crushed in the mails! Pods were of cour~e flabby and opening, with the real, obvious duds among them quite with~red and as ·you said, about 99% of the total. I immediately went out and brought in all the stalks from clumps now in several exposures in the garden from the single original fan brought from New Zealand (a gift of Jean Collins) by a returning vacationer, so yoµ can see it has gotten around, back and forth across, the equator with no effect to its vigor. There is no doubt we have the same clone, as the malformed pods and shrunken seeds were identical, and without so much as a grain o_f starch. inside_, the duds plumped up to look re~l. This is NOT of._.course · the plant Darby had thought to have given Mrs. Marchant, and whatever· its actual ori gin we can safely assume I think that it. represents ·the hybrid Iris X robusta as described by Edgar Anderson as occurring where r. versicoior""'ind ~ virginica merge. 'I Ll34 NEW IDENTITY Of IRIS 'GE RALO DAA~Y 1 --cont Yes indeed we must do something 50 th.at posterity has the facts. This is a fine garden plant doing well in both dryish places where it 1 is shorter and not so exuberant and in the mixed border, where here too it goes to a.11 o~ five feet in companionship and c~petition with such hungries as aS;t.rantia and filapendula, a fine cci!:nbination. The leaf color fades in hot weather but is still effective and when the fan ·is· peeled the inside <~rich has not been subject to sun11ght) is a genuine beetroot red. I '~have made a sketch to show the ~r~nching and bud placement and a capsule; this was before the latter had begun to shrink. '· A -:,ery long 'time ago we bad a plant in commerce over here as Iris caroliniana ,- w~th such a dark stem; that name is of 1 cqirse to be taken as= virginica, but t~e flower was not so good as this. ·._l We found GERALD DA.RBY to be a quite fayored iris . as we toured English g~rdens this past summer (1985) never lqoking better than in the pond of Christopher Lloyd's walled sunken g~rden at Great Dixter. With perhaps a . dozen stalks it made a wonderful r~flection, the high-arching fa~s and the stalks too, arched in the reverse wey as they had spread outward from th~ base. Accordingly a letter of petitio; waE ~ent the registrar and after tbe due ~scussion the parentage of GERALD DARBY has been changed to confot:m ~ ·&c, with the facts. IR Is. 1 GER1'.\LD DARBY 1 * ~* ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** * * * * * * I~j\ you get an extra-special flower, or ~n out-of-season surprise, you can kiep it in the freezer for a while by selecting a jar the right size with a s~rew top, making a plug for the neck out of plastic foam, fixing the stem in the foam, and screwing on the top. The flower lasts in perfect cqndition for at least a few weeks (my oldest ·1s two months, so I don't ktjow) and can be taken out briefly for admiration and eventual~r to use the pollen. Elaine Hulbert IRIS SPECI-ES NATIVE TO NORTH AMERICA 1285 · ,· .-. ·.:_. · ·· by Ernest G. 8~ Lusco·mbe · · ·. ; : . • , . Reproduc·ed from the Y£ AR BOOK of the British Iris . :. Socie·ty, 1970 ( who "reproduced by permission .. . of GARDENER'S CHRONICLE) THE G~nus lrig ·is _freeiy represented upon the continent of North Atnericn. although only two of the major botanical groups are involved, these being Sub--sectfon Apogon and Sub;section Fvansia. The t'latural dispersal of · one specie~, lris.setosa, presents an unusm~I clement, as its'·range extchds tc, :.- the far· north 'viliere sub-arctic conditions prevail, and its distributio·nal. · ambit. ~ctu~lly :approaches the Arctic Circle. Almost invariably° Iris species are found ·in 'the temperate regions of the Northern I {_emisphere, to which geog~aphicat boundary the Gt:nus is confined . . fn general; the incidence of North.American native irises concerns those particular States ,,:. of the U~S.A. which arc more or less adjacent to the coast on both' the eastern and western seaboards including Alaska; and the irises are found all over the Rocky Mountains system, alo_ng the valley of the Mississippi · River and its main tributaries, and around the Great Lakes. ln Canada these , plants occur ch_iefly in the Great Lakes region, along the south- . · ·, eastern. coastline, and· in' British Columbia. In the eariy days when attempts were made to segrcg~te Iris species .into·· formal taxonomic groups, botanists suggested that close relationships existec;l as. between some North American species and certain Eurasian species. Thus,' Iris verskolor appeared. lo shew a close aninity with Iris pseudacorus the common.yellow-flowered. marsh "flag" which is indigenous in the U.K., continental Europe, the Mid_cllc East, western Asia and North Africa. However, in 1936 Dr Edgar Anderson of Missouri 1'published the · result of his researches which indicated ti.wt .on morphological, cyto~ogical·. and genetical grounds there was clear ,evidence to shew that J. 11ersirolor originated in remote times from a natural hybridization between /. · virginica and a distinct form of/. setosa. This· investtgation was carried a , stage further by means of analysing the genetic constitution of l. virgirzica. Observation of the number and . pattern of the chromosomes and their behaviour· in the meiotic process strongly suggested to Dr Anderson that this species itself was the res·u1t of nn ancient spo_ntancous 1;ybridi1.ntibn. probably between two species which arc now long extinct, one resemhl"ir,!! a member or the Series Tripetalae and one belonging to Series Hexagonac. Although these findings tenet to dispro.ve any dose connection in lhe genetic sense as betweeri·the /. vir~inica-versirolor complex -~-~·d. /. pse_udacofus the two North American species arc still retained for ta.xonomic purpnc.es within Series Laevigatae. In the year J9JI the botanist \\'a llt"r sugt?cstc-d that the two species together merited bci1.1g recognised as a separate 1286 .IRIS SPECIES NATIVE TO NORTH AMERICA botanical group, and . he announced one with the title "Virginicae'\ Owing to the fact that this was not an authoritative. publication in the particular form required by the provisions of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, however, it is invaJid. Another example con cerns Iris prismatica, which was formerly included with Eurasian species in the Apogon Series Sibiricae, but within recent years the North American plant has been afforded authoritative independent status as the mono typical representative of Series Prismaticae. 2 Under the Reclassification of Dr Geo. H. M. Lawrcnce1 1953 ali the non-bearded and non-crested rhizomatous irises· are embodied in Sub section Apogon, excepting only Iris foetidissima and the A~iatic species in Sub-section Pardanthopsis and Sub-genu~ Nepalensis. Under Sub section Apogon the only subordinate category is that of the Series, and the Series which contain North American irises are Tripetalae, Laevigatae, Longipetalae, Californicae, • Vernae, Hexagonae and Prismaticae. The first two Series include Eurasian species, but the other five concern species which are confined to North America. Members of Sub-section Evansia· are distinguished by displaying a crest which is characteristically jagged and ·cockscomb-like on each of the outer or "fall" segments of the perianth. Although the crest of Iris tenuis is entire, the general as~t and vegetative characters of the plant clearly reveal its _affinity to this group. It should be noted that the populations of several species within the Apogon Series Ca1ifornicae have been diminished and partly redistributed by man's· disruption of the landscape in effecting forest clearance for various utilitarian purposes, including road-making and siting power cables and for sundry public . works. Within recent years the serious depletion of colonies of/. /ongipeta/a and I. lacustris has also taken place by reason of urban and other land development, so that these plants have become rare in their origin~! natural stations, and are threatened with complete extinction as wild plants. , . Besides iris species which are truly indigenous in North America certain others may be encountered, growing apparently in the wild state but being actually plants which have escaped from cultivation and become natur alized. Iris pseudacorus and forms of the bearded Iris germanica are found to occur thus. Apogon Series Tripetalae: , I. setosa Pallas ex Link. Alaska, _mainly coastal.. Aleutian Islands. The. "Arctic Dlue-FJag''. June-flowering in United Kingdom. Stem height very variable, but in the commonest form is about 45cm., simple or branched, bearing the flower clusters above the recurved leaves which are •To be dealt with in a later article 1287 2.5cm.·'wi -1, Series Lae_vigatae: .. . I. versicqlor ·~ ;_ The- -Co1;1~on Blue-Flag. Widely distrihuted in the north-ea~tern United States including 'northern Virginia and Ohio, and around the Grea't _Lakes, also south.:castern Cani_\da from the· C()aslal Provinces and Islands inland to Win!tipcg. Flowers June. Stem-height up to 60cm. simp,~~ : or 1-2 branched; basal leaves lo-~ger ancf 3cm. wit.le. flowers borne in clusters or 2 to 4, the spathes stout and green, often with shiny brown margins, usually compact, up tcf6cm. long, the outer vnlve rarely foliaceous; Oowe:rs or mod era le ·s.izc, t Ii~:·hafts .or falls rather long a ml oblique; falls ,._1. ~~ J:~r:n·, _long, the blade roi1nded-ovate '4cm: wide, violet blue or purplish wi-th· darker veins, nt the base a dull green-gold ~ignal patch with a pubescence or minute hairs. standards rather small, somewhal oblique, oblanceolate; ca rsule 5cm. long, usually oblong-ellipsoid, some- 1288 IRIS SPECIES NATIVE TO NORTH AMERICA what warty outside, pers"isLing into winter, seeds D-shaped, dark brown,· the coat thin, hard and glossy with a· faint ridge along the straight side. 2n=106 to 108. Examples with pure white flowers ·are not uncommon, e.g. forma Murrayana Fernald. tR.1& ' VI R. GINIC:A ,• I;. GAP8ULe OF l,VJftG-INIGA IN FLORESCENCE ,. W 1TH FOLi ACE..OUS 0UTE.R SPA'rH E.-VAL-VE Ct\P':SUL..E.S FA LL. SE.OMf.N'r OF VAft..• 5 H R!.Vf.1 --continue-d· · · · · 1289 ' . var. kermesina Hort.' The altrnctive · flowers are of. a vinous-c.armine colour. . This is probably the most well-known species in British gardens, and it will thrive in_ ~l:t.Y good soil which is m·o (Syns. I. georgiana Britton, I. curolina ·Radius, I. carolininna S. \Vutson) . As compared wjtb /. versicolnr, /. virginica is distinguished by its more ample standards and loi,gc~ falls which bear a ~ri_ght yellow and pro minently hairy signal blotch. Diagnostic characters occur also in the, spathes, capsul~s and seeds. . . . • ! : , var. shrevei {Small) Anderson. ·· Interior Blue-Flag. (syn. /. s~ireret . Small). Is fol:'_nd througho_u( the Mi~sissipp~ Vall~y, e~tcnding · botl~. laterally, and northw~rds, to the Great Lakes area, mcludmg the Sti,tlcs of Minnesota~ Wisconsin and Michigan; and in Ontaria Province, Canada. June-flowering. As compared with the type-species, var. shrel•ei may be ._ distinguished by its sligh.tly smaller, fragrant flowers with broader, more rounded parts; both spathe-valves are-short, expo~ing -the ovary; and by . the elongated capsule which is·toughly cylindrical with 3 r_0t~nded angles in cross-section, very warty ·outs1de:.the seeds arc slightly smaller, D-shaped. pinkish-fawn in colour, thick, with a dull, corky coat, the rounded side with sharp edges. 2n = 70. This plant inhabits meadows and marshes, 1290 IRIS SPECIES NATIVE TO NORTH AMERICA usually in ncm-acid soils_. All forms of Iris vir~inica tend to be impermanent in-cultivation in the United Kingdom. It demands abundant moisture whilst growth is active, and the type-species prefers a neutral or acid soil. Series Lo'ngipetalae::-. I. longipetala Herbert, Coastal California, endemic. Flowering season May to June. Stem 45 to 60cm. tall, stout and strong, simple or branched, bearing 3 to 6 flowers in each cluster; basal leaves longer, slender, about 1cm. wide, sub-evergreen; spathes herbaceous, very slender, up to 15cm; long, sometimes foliaceous, the outermost valve usually separated from the second; pedicels very unequal in length; flower: falls up to 10cm. long x 5cm. wide, with obovatc hlade a nd short, narrow haft; the medial ridge is yellow witli purple dots : beyond this the base of the blade is white dotted violet, the outer part of the blade lilac or white overspread with prominent violet veins; standards sub-erect, violet, the blade oblong and at the apex bluntly rounded and notched; capsule · oblong-ovoid, nearly circular in cross-section, six-ribbed, 9cm. long; seeds smooth, dark brown, spherical or pear-shaped. Tetraploid : 2n =-80, 86 or 88 including minute chromo somes or fragments. The origin of this plant is obscure. It may be either~ autotetraploid, or an amphidiploid resulting from a species-cross, one parent being /. missouriensis and the other an entity within Series Longipetalae or pos-. sibly I. doug1asiana of the Californicae. I. /ongipetala is an easily grown, attractive and rewarding garden plant, suitable for growing in neutral, fairly moist soil in an open, sunny site. I. missouriensis Nuttall. (syn. I . tolmeiana Herbert). Sources of the Missouri River and very widespread therefrom, mostly at high altitudes, over the Rocky Mountains system from British Columbia southwards to New Mexico, Arizona and California, usually west of the Divide but extending eastwards to the Dakotas. Flowering season, May to June. Stem 45 to 60cm. tall, slender, exceeding the leaves by 5 to 10cm., simple or branched, bea ring clusters of 2 to 4 flowers; basal leaves erect, slender, about 1cm. wide; spathes opposite, herbaceous at base and alo11g keel but scarious otherwise, long-pointed, 4 to 7cm. long; pedicels long, up to 20cm.; flower: falls about 6cm. long by 2cm. wide, the blade conspicu ously veined deep lilac-purple on a paler ground, and with a yellow-white · blotch at base; standard,s shorter, I cm. ~ide, oblanceolate, notched, uni form lilac-purple; capsule up to 5cm. long, oblong, six-ribbed, trigonal; seeds subspherical to pear-shaped, dark brown. 2n = 38. There are white-flowered forms. Plant deciduous. Inhabits wet meadows. This is a polymorphic species in which almost every structural --continued 1291 feature is subject to variation. var. pelogo11us (Goo Plant deciduous. Occurs in hills in moisl ri1ea,dows. . ·or beside streams.'\'; . . The epithet "pelogonus·· means clay-loving. ··. :· .. .· var. arizo11ica (Dyk~s) R. C. Foster (syn./. adzonir.a' .Dy.kes). Ariidnn, at high altitudes,' -end¢mic. .Flowers May to ·June. Stem up to 75cm. long, bearing a terminal clus_ter of J to 5 flowers, an Series Vemae: Monotypical . I. vema Linn. Extensive. range in eastern and south-eastern . States of U.S.A. Mostly con11nonly f ~>Und in the vicinity of Washingto.n, D.C.. Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia and Alubt!ma,· in ucid soils in semi-shaded and open woodlands or thickets. Frequent on heights of southern Appalachian MouJ1tains, spreading.:_~own eastward to the st•a• coast. Flowers April to l\{ay. Plant ilwarf,'the stem lisually ahhrcviatrd and concealed, but having ·a pe l R s V E. R. N A L il\-11,a.eus '• . CAP6ULE. --continued 129;3 imbricatcd bracts up to Sc.:rn. long. somcti111e~ green hut 0flrn red-purple: with white tines; leaves.up to 21cm. long hy 5mm. wide, the inner ones <1f a sterile fan light green. glnuc~)US, the· outer ones reddish-purple with white lines.; apex of flower reaches up to l4t:m.; nnwer violet-scented, rails 5i:m. long, broadly oblanccolatc, rich lilac witli dark violet spnl nt base orblatk-; a wide orange-yellow band extends along medial line or hafl and well on lo blade, its central ridge pubescent in frClntal part; standards 5cm. long, sub erect, spathulate, pale bluish-lilac with sl ightly deeper fine veins; capsule. 1.3cm. long, ovoid wilh a beak; seeds oval, dark brown, each with a l:rcst like white aril. A mountain forh1 which occurs from South Carolina to \Vest Virginia . has a distinct undcrstock. larger leaves, the flowers larger am.I often unscented. The sum of its differences suggest a distinct plant. but it is connected with the other type by intergrades. This is a charming iris, and one which is very desirable for the rod.. garden, to be grown in a li ghtly shaded spot in light, woodsy, lime-free soil. Jn the United Kingdom growers o rten find that it does Yery well for a time but is difficult to establish perennially. Series Hexagonac: General characteristics: capsule six-ribbed, inflores cence includes sessile flowers borne in the axils of stem-leaves: stigmas bilobed; seeds large with thick corky coats. I. hexago11a Walter. U.S.A. south-e~stcrn States adjacent to Atlantic Coast and Gulf of Mexico: South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Ala bama. Aquatic, anc.J found in rich silty soil in wet ditches and swamps in sun or shade. Flowers June to July. Stem 30 to 90cn_1. long, stiffiy erect or slightly zig-zag, stout, simple_or with very short brnnches; the terminal clusters two-flowered : also solitary flowe rs borne in the axils of the upper stem-leaves only; leaves yellowish-green, 60 to 90cm. long by 2.5cm. widt'; spathes green-herbaceous, sometimes unequal with the outer valve the longer, 15 to 20cm. long: pcrianth-tuvc funne[form. 3cm. long; flower fragrant, its colour rich deep purple; falls 9 to I 0cm. long by 4cm: wide, the blade obovate-elliptic, with a conspicuous yellowish pilose medial· ridge the outer end of which is surrounded by a zcme of yellow or white traversed by deep red-purple veins which also overspread the violet-purple of the outer part of the blade; standards erect, 7 to 8.3cm. long, the blade violet, haft green with whitish margi n ; capsule markedly hexagonal, the six rihs prominent, ovoid, 4 to 6cm. long; seeds large, li ght brown, D-shapctl or irregularly rounded, the coal thick, cor_ky, pilled. 2n = 44. Forma alba: flowers white. var. sm·an11arum (Small) R. C. Foster. The Prairie Blue-Flag: interior of Peninsular Florida. Spring-flowering. Differs from the type-spedc! mainly in the shape of the major flowe r-segments, which are te·ss broad. 1294 IRIS SPECIES NATIVE TO NORTH AMERICA ., ' .... 1. lzexagona is a vari~ble species. It ~s frost-tender, and is consequently unsuitable for garden cultivation out-of-doors in the United Kingdom. It needs abundant moisture. ~ · I. giga11ticoerulea Small. Lower Mississippi Valley, more particularly the Gulf-coast region of Louisiana, extending westward to the Lake Charles area. Endemic. I fa bi tat, margins of fresh-water and slightly brackish tidal marshes, in full sunlight. Flowers Mardi to April. Stem 70. to 120cm. tall, stout. erect, almost_straight. bearing its terminal 2- flowercd cluster well a hove leaves: also two or three axillary single or paired flowers are set below in the axils of the upper stem-leaves; spathes large, . keeled, herbaceous with a membranous or scarious margin, the outer valve elongated; flowers very large and strongly musk-scented; falJs 8.6 to l I.S~m. long by 4cm. wide, the blade ovate to sub-orbicular, narrowed · abruptly at the "waisted" junction with haft, haft slenderly elliptic. The overall colour· of the flower varies from columbine to lobelia blue to lavender, lilac or violet to white or yellowish-white. The raised pubescent midrib on falls may be yellow, orange-yellow or very pale green, the zone around ·its end yellowish or creamy, and with whitish veins overspreading the outer blade; standards sub-erCGt, 8.5cm. long by 2cm. wide, blue-violet veined deep violet; capsule drooping, ovoid-ellipsoid to cylindrical with obtuse ends, 6.5 to 10cm. long, bright green, with six. broadly rounded ·ridges: the cross section is more or Jess rounded, the ridges not protruding; seeds large, D-shaped, usually very thick, with corky coat. (Syn./. ·hexagona Walter var. giganticoerulea (Small) R. C. Foster). . Var. citricristata Small. Crest and adjacent zone le.mon yellow. Var. elepha11tina Small. Flowers yellow-white, the cresi lemon flanked. · by yellow-green veins extending on to blade of falls. This large, robust iris is closely allied to /. hexagona, but the flowers of the former are larger and distinct in form, the capsules and seeds are different, and it has a distinctiv~ habitat preference. In nature it prefers non-acid soils. It may be a trifle hardier than /. hexagona, but little is known of its garden worth in the United l{jngdom. I. ne/sonii Randolph. Abbeville .Swamp and its drainage basin in the Gulf Coast region of south-central Louisiana. Endemic.. This is a stabilised, true-breeding population of irises which had their first ~rigins in the spontaneous natural hybridization of three older species, which are assuTT}ed to be /. giganticoerulea, I. fulva and I. brevicaulis. The popula tion of /. nelsonii is adapted to survival in a distinctive habitat differing from that of the ancestral species. Professor L. F. Randolph justifies his classification of this entity as a new species by citing parallels in other genera:'. These irises were formerly known as the "Abbeville Reds" or "Giant Fulvas". Positively shade-loving. Type-locality Young's Coulee --continued 1295 Abbeville. Stem erect, 70 to 110cm. tall, with short branches in upper part, each with 2 flowers terminally; basal leaves 80 to 90cm. long and J to 3cm. wide, yellowish-green; flowers large, the six major segments all drooping, char acteristically an unique bright red-purple, rarely yellow; falls 6 to ?cm. long by 3 to·4cm. wide; standards 4.8 to 5.5cm. long and 2cm. wide; capsule ellipsoid to oblong, 5 to 6.5cm. long, usually tapering at both ends, some times wi!h obtuse apex; scctls irregularly D-shaped, light brown, 1.5cm • . across, shiny and freely pitt~d. 2n = 42. I. fulva Kcr-Gawler. Widely distributed along the Mississippi Valley from· Louisiana northwards to Missouri and southern Illinois. Favours stiff, clayey soil of alluvial origin usually at the edges of deltaic sloughs and . Cypress swamps. June-flowering. Stem slender, up to 90cm. tall, simple or with short branches, leafy, often zig-zag, bearing a 2-flowered terminal head and 2 solitary flowers in the axils of the upper stem-leaves; spathes markedly unequal, green-herbaceous, flattened, the outermost 10 to 11cm. long, the- second 8cm. long: perianth-tube 2.5cm. long, stout, linear; flowers small, all the major segments drooping, prevailing colour rosy~ copper, rarely yellowish, the ground usually pale terracotta overlai~ with dark rose-brown veins: falls up to 6cm. long by 3.8cm. wi Series Prismaticac Monotypical I. prismatica Pursh ex Ker-Gawler. Swampy ground and sandy beaches of the Atlantic Coast of the North-eastern States, from North Carolina northwards to the Rhode Island and Massachusetts shores, .extending shortly into Maine, then absent except for an isolated station in Cape Breton Island. Inland it has been found in the mountains of North Caro lina, also Georgia and Tennessee. Flowering season May to June. The understock is unique-a very slender rhizome, stoloniferous, widely run~ ning, producing the leaf-tufts at widely separated points. Stem 30 to 50cm. long, slerider, wiry, not straight btit twisted, tortuous, either simple and bearing a terminal cluster of 2 or 3 flowers, or with one branch which bears one flower; basal leaves dull green, slender, 30 to 50cm. long by 3 to 9mm. wide; spathes opposite, sub-equal, very slender and 2.5 t-0 5cm. Jong; . perianth-tube funnel-form, 3mm. long; flowers small, resembling those of I. sibirica; falls to 5cm. long, the blade ovate, 1.5cm. wide, whitish or pale violet with distinct dark violet veins; standards up to 4cm. long, broadly oblanceolate, erect, pale violet; capsule ellipsoid-fusiform to oblong, about 3.5cm. long, with a prominent flange along each angle; seeds dark rcddish brown, smooth, very variable in shape, rounded, D-shaped or rhomboidal, thickene~ in centr~, 4 to 5mm. long.· 2n =42. This plant is a difficult subject in cultivation in the United Kingdom. It needs abundant moisture and a decidedly acid soil. Even so,.it is as a rule impermanent. , .. , .. Sub-section Evansia : 1 ! This botanical Group is represented i~ North America.by three species, all of which possess a dwarf or quite slender habit of growth . . I. cristata Aiton or Solander. Widespread in south-eastern abd central States, especially around Washi.r..gton, D.C. and Ohio southwards and westwards to east Oklahoma: also region of the AJJegheny and Appala- --continued 1297 ,.. CA PSULE.S SECTION 1298 . IRIS SPECIES NATIVE TO NORTH AMERICt chi an Mountains and Ozark highlands, from the higher mountains spread ing eastwards to near sea level: rocky hillsides, ravines and woods. Flow ers April to May. Unclerstot·k stoloniferous, P..roducing leaf-shoots at the nodes; stem very short; 2.5 to 4.5cm. Jong, leafy, bearing l or 2 flowers; basal leaves broad. light green. distinctly ribbed, up to 25cm. long and 2.5cm. wide. sometimes extending after 0owering-timc; perianth-tube very slender, linear with a slight expansion towards the top, 5 to 7cm. Jong; spathes opposite. large, keeled. green, broadly lanceo)ate, unequal, up to 7cm .. long by 1cm. wide; flowers lilac-violet, the major segments often with frilled margins, falls up to 4.5cm. long by 1.5cm. wide, the blade oblong obovatc, apex obtuse, with a white central blotch margined with darker violet flecks; and along the medial part of the haft and blade a fimbriate 3~ ridged orange and white crest; standards shorter, oblanceolate, widely spreading, sub-horizontal; seeds ellipsoid, with a small viscid spiral appen dage; capsule small, ovoid, l to 2cm. long, three-angled. 2n =36. forma alba-flowers white. This plant is variable in habit, especially as to the size of its leaves. This is a very beautiful iris which is quite suitable for growing in a cool place in the rock-garden in a lime-free gritty sojl and partial shade, with a fairly moist root-run. Slugs and snails are a menace. Vegetative propagation is effected by severing rooted runners in early summer, soon after flowering. I . /acustris Nuttall. Endemic in the Great Lakes area of northern U.S.A.: Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio States, and Ontario Province, Canada. Sandy, gravelly or mossy ridges free from grass, also thickets · ~nd woods. Flowers May. Stem very short and slender, 3 to 4cm. long, leafy; basal leaves up to 16cm. long at flowering-time, often smaller; · spathes up to 4.5cm. long, subequal or the inner valve much the longer, green with scarious margins; perianth-tube 1.3 to 2cm. long, gradually widening upwards as from the base; flowers: all the major segments alike in form, cuneate; falls about 2cm. long by 8mm. wide, emarginate, colour blue-violet with a deeper purple flecked edge to the white central patch, and with an orange-and-white fimbriate 3-ridged crest; standards shorter, emarginate, blue-violet, sub-erect or ·oblique; capsule about 1.2cm. long, ovoid, rounded; seeds small, brown, oval, with a coiled aril. Plant often also flowers in autumn. 2n · 42. This iris is. consistent in its diminutive size and habit, with leaves and flowers s,~a.Jler than in /. cristata. Also, the falls . and standards in /. /acustris are alike in their wedge-like shape, and are a darker violet in colour. As a garden plant /. /a~ustris is more adaptable, tolerating a slightly alkaline soil, more direct sunshine, and being amenable to propa gation by division at various seasons. The two species bear a strong resemblance to one another superficially, but in structural details they are --continued 1299 clearly distinct 1 and usu.illy I he plant and flower of /. cristata are almost l wice as large. /. tcnuis S. Watson. Northern Oregon: narrowly endemic in a restricted region in ·clackamas County. Cool1 shady places in moist soil, leaf mould and decaying moss, on the canyon floor or on fir-tree covered hill sides. May-flowering. The plant is not clump-forming: the ~ery slender rhizomes creep around widely, producing leaf-fans at separate points. Stem 30cm. tall, slender, deeply forked, with I or 2 branches, bearing 2 or 3 flower-heads of 1 Hower each, the lateral flowers about level with the terminal one; basal )eaves scanty, pale green with scarious margins at base, up to 35cm. long by 1.5cm. wide, prominently ribbed; spathes sub-equal. opposite, green-membranous with scarious margins, 2 to 3cm. long by 5mm wide: ·perianth-tube funnelform, 3mm. long; flowers small, whitish or faintly tinged blue; falls with oblong-obovate blade, apex . rounded obtuse, deeply notched. 2.8cm. Jong by 1cm. wide, the base of blade and haft with obscure violet veins and dots, and with a white or yellowish raised enlire media1 ridge or crest; standards 2cm. long by 6mm. wide, oblanceolate, obtuse or slightly notched, bluish-white, widely spreading; capsule ovoid, 9 to 15mm. long; seeds D-shaped,pitted, light brown, with a whitish raphe. 2n = 28. In horticulture in the United Kingdom this species is v~ry rare, although small white-flowered plnnts falsely labelled as "I. tenuis" have been in circulation. The true plant is shade-loving, and requires a well-drained, lime.free soil, to which the addition of fir-tree needles has been suggested. It is not fuJly frost-hardy . •/. ~enuis was formerly included in Series Californicae, but Dr Lee W . . · Lenz_. published a apecial brochure in 1959 effecting the transfer of this species to Sub-section Evnnsia5, in which he suggests its affinities with I. eris/ala and J. gracilipes, an References: {I) Page 81. Dr Edgar Anderson: .. The Species-problem in Iris". Annals of Missouri Botanic Garden Vol. XXJJt, 1936. (2) Page 82. '.'A Reclassificn'tion of the Genus Tri!." by Dr Geo. H. M. Lawrence. Gentes Hcrbarum Vol. VII I Fasc. [V. 1953 Article 16. (3) Page 90. Professor L. F. Randolph. "lri~ nelsonii, a new species or Louisiana Iris of Hybrid Origin". naileya, Vol. 14 No. 4, Dccemher 1966. (4) Page 92. J. K. Small and F.. J. Alexander. "RotanicaJ Interpretations of the Iridaceous Plants of the Guff States". Conlrihutions of New York Botanic Gardens 327. 325-357 19]1. (S) Page 95. Dr Lee W. Len1:. "Iris tenuis S. Wats. a new transfer to the Sub section Evansia". Aliso Vol. 4 No. 2 pp. 311-319 June 1959. 1300 NOTES FROM THE EDITOR !"tarch 21, 1986 The calendar says that spring is here but we still have about a foot of snow on the le~el. We expect it to be a great spring when it does come as the snow cover has been super ~11 winter which is unusual here. I. histrioides was the first iris to bloom in our garden last year and we are hoping that it is a more permanent than j. · danfordia~ which has been our earliest arrival in prior year~ though the latter species is cheap enough so we would not be long without it. It has been pointed out that we erred in SIGNA # 35 with our footnote regarding I. · humllis (arenaria). It was not, of course, Brian Mathew who classified or corrected the classification of ~L~renaria which is now to be called I, humilis. As Mathew points out, he adopted the taxonomic treatment of Dr. John J. Taylor, University of Montana. Dr. Taylor~s "The Reclassification of Iris Species Bearing Arillate Seeds" appears in SIGNA #20, April, 1978 should you want further information on this. We are alwaws ready and willing to print corrections or additions. We make no claim to scientific accuracy, but try . insofar as we are able to point out currently accepted names. Mathew,s book, THE IRIS, is our main ref-erence. SIGNA #36 is ready for the electronic stencil cutter except for the headlines. This issue started out to feature .l..:...,_~etosa, but as you will see, branched off to mostly water-loving species. We t~ink it works well to feature a certain type of iris in each issue (not ex clusively, of course) but when we get a major article or articles we do not hesitate to change course. We chose the rather long Luscombe article because it contains information pertaining to the last two issues and the current one to saw nothing of the one to come. We expect to use the I. setosa articles we left out of this issue in the fall SIGNA so if you have had some e}rpe1~iences wo1"th noting with any form of Series Tripetalae, we would like to hear from you. Also in the planning stage are issues featuring bulbous irises, evansia· irises and the bearded species. i.-Je woLtld like to hear about your experiences, successes, f~ilures, questions, answers or whatever. We have heard via the gr ..,Pevine that some people are campaigning· for a new SIGNA format, a booklet form, that is. It is really of no great importance to your editor as editor and your publisher would probablM not object to losing his Job. However, as collectors of past issues. of SIGNA, we are disturbed •. We like being able to use a standard binding to preserve our c~pies and wonder how other members feel about this. Please let us hear from you on this. If !:JOLI u.1ant a membe1"ship list, plea_se send $2.00 to ouY- sec:retar~~ Florence Stout, address inside front cover. She will send a computer printout. The consensus has been not to waste SIGNA space -since· many are not interested. We don't know yet how the new Index will be handled. Suggestions are welcome. Happy spring! Joan C. "