Dykes in The Genus Iris, 1913, Gives the following "Description. Rootstock , a rhizome, somewhat more slender than that of I. germanica. Leaves , ensiform, rather narrow, about 6-8 in. long at flowering time but growing eventually to a foot in height. Stem , about 18 in., bearing four bract-like leaves and a terminal head of two flowers and sometimes one lateral flower. Spathe valves , green flushed with purple in the lower half and scarious in the upper part, not keeled, 2 in. long. Pedicel , very short, only l in. Ovary , cylindrical or very obscurely trigonal, with thick walls. Tube , about I in., yellow-green, trigonal. Falls , long and narrow, spathulate, with a reddish-maroon blade, the haft bearing veins of the same colour on a yellow ground. The beard consists of orange hairs and is very prominent. 3 in. by I in. Standards , oval, unguiculate, emarginate, connivent, brownish-purple, concolor, the haft being yellowish with brown-purple mottlings; slightly shorter than the falls. 2:f in. by 1-i in. Styles , yellow with a purple keel. Crests , small, darker than the styles, brownish-purple, subquadrate with jagged edges. Stigma , large, oblong, entire. Filaments , yellowish-white rather longer than the anthers. Anthers , cream. Pollen , cream. Capsule , Seeds ,Observations.This Iris has been the subject of much confusion which was created by Spach when he described (I.e.) an I. Redouteana as different from I. lurida. He bases his description on Redoute's description and figure and says that it differs from Willdenow's I. lurida. As, however, both Redoute and Willdenow quote Solander's original description in the Hortus Kewensis, it is difficult to see what ground Spach had for setting up his species. The plant described and figured by Solander and Redoute is still in cultivation and is not improbably of hybrid origin. The colour and the shape of the falls seem to point to I. variegata as one of the parents and the theory of its hybrid origin is supported by the fact that it appears to be sterile. The only difficulty is that it flowers early, about a month before I. variegata.Cultivation is easy and the plant is valuable for its flowers of a somewhat unusual colour. It has the additional advantage of sometimes flowering a second time in the autumn, which is a further argument in support of the theory of its hybrid origin. In cultivating a large collection of Irises, it will be found that hybrids are much more apt to flower a second time in the autumn than are species.Spach's I. lurida (Hist. Veg. Phan. xm. p. 56 (1846)), which he identifies with Bot. Mag. t. 669 (1803), has larger, slightly paler reddish-purple flowers than the real I. lun'da and also a taller and more ample inflorescence. It was probably one of the sambucina or squalens hybrids of which there are innumerable forms (see p. 234). |