■ (SPEC) Iris albertii Regel

1877, Botanical author Regel

_Iris albertii_ Regel (Eduard August von Regel, 1877, collected Turkestan); Section Iris . TB; Color Class-S1M; 12-29" (30-70 cm). Early bloom. Lavender to purplish violet flowers, suffused reddish brown at base and up midrib of standards; falls veined brown at haft ending abruptly in a straight line across the blade at the end of the beard. Beard white to pale blue tipped yellow.

See below:

• * References
• * Synonyms
• * Variations
• * Hybrids
• * Distribution and Cultivation

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References:

Images of I. albertii in wild at INaturalistUK
Act. Hort. Petrop. 5: 260. 1877;
Berry 1938
Gartenflora XXIX p.33 table 999
Baker gave the following notes in Curtis's Botanical Magazine, Tab. 7020. 1888: "This new Iris is one of the many novelties which have been discovered lately by the Russian collectors in the mountains of Turkestan. It was sent home alive to St. Petersburg by Dr. Albert Regel, after whom it was named by his father. The only wild specimen we possess in the Kew Herbarium, was gathered by Felisson in 1877. In habit it most resembles I. pallida of our old familiar European types, and it has the same scariose spathe-valves. It is interesting botanically, because it possesses a rudimentary crest and a fully-developed beard down the claw of the outer segments of the perianth, so that it forms a connecting link between the subgenera Pogoniris and Evansia. Our drawing was made from specimens furnished by Professor M. Foster, F.R.S. In England it flowers towards the end of May.*Description;* Rootstock stout, shortly creeping. Leaves ensiform, slightly glaucesent, one and a half or two feet long, above an inch broad. Inflorescence a lax panicle overtopping the leaves, with five or six heads; spathe-valves ovate, ventricose, the outer scariose at the flowering time, except in the center towards the base; pedicels very short. Flowers bright lilac; perianth-tube under an inch long, narrowly funnel-shaped, greenish; outer segments obovate-cuneate, reflexing, two inches long, under an inch broad, faintly crested down the face more than half-way up, and densely bearded with white processes with a yellow head and veined on the sides up to the top of the beard with lines of dull brown and lilac on a white ground; inner segments erect, orbicular, above an inch broad, narrowed suddenly to a convolute claw half or three-quarters of an inch long. Crests of the stigma short, not reaching to the top of the beard. Filaments longer than the white linear anthers."
Per. 1909; 1927
Dykes, The Genus Iris 182. 1913, Description. Rootstock , a stout, compact, rhizome. Leaves , broad, erect, somewhat glaucous, somewhat bluntly pointed, finally 18-24 in. by 1½-2 in., tinged with purple at the base in purple-flowered plants. Stem , bears a terminal head of three flowers, of which the central bud is the last to open, and about three lateral heads each bearing 1-3 flowers. The peduncles are set in bract-like leaves. Spathe valves , green, ventricose, not keeled, only slightly scarious at flowering time at the tip or along the margin. Pedicel , very short. Ovary , short, cylindrical, bright green. Tube , about ½ in. long, greenish, becoming wider above. Falls , obovate cuneate, the haft veined with thick, diffuse, reddish-brown veins, which extend on to the blade and there end abruptly at the end of the beard in a straight line across the width of the blade. The colour of the latter is either purple or pale yellow. The beard is of whitish hairs tipped with yellow and often ends in an obscure crest. Standards , almost orbicular, the blade narrowing abruptly to a canaliculate haft, which is veined with reddish-brown. The colour is the same as that of the falls. Styles , 1-1} in. long. Crests , short, subquadrate, overlapping, reflexed, with a serrated upper edge. Stigma , large, oblong. Filaments , longer than the anthers, white. Anthers , short and comparatively broad. Pollen , white. Capsule , short, broad, globose, showing hardly any trace of ribs or grooves, with very thick walls. Seeds , brown, semicircular, wedge-shaped, resembling those of I. pallida.Observations.This species was placed by Baker among his group of Pseudevansias. The rudimentary crest, on which he based this classification, is in many individuals so slightly marked, even if present at all, and the plant is in other respects so different from the other members of that group that it would seem wiser to keep it among the Pogoniris. I feel the more justified in adopting this plan because among numbers of seedling Pogoniris I have found many with a distinct crest beyond the tip of the beard. The amount of crest varies in different flowers on the same plant and even on the different falls of the same flower. In some cases I have noticed a good half inch of crest beyond the extremity of the beard, and it is not unusual for the hairs of the latter to be inserted on a distinctly raised ridge.I. Alberti is a plant of a curious habit of growth, but even here it resembles the larger members of the Pogoniris group rather than the Pseudoregelias, such as I. kumaonensis or I. Hookeriana.The original type of this Iris was purple-flowered, but I have obtained more than one yellowflowered plant in raising the species from seeds. The latter are semicircular and compressed like those of I. pallida and quite different from the Pseudoregelia type.I. Alberti does best in a warm position, where it is fairly dry in winter. Foster used to give it the same treatment as the Oncocyclus group. This is however not necessary, for I still grow a plant of this Iris, which he gave me and which has not received any special treatment.A characteristic feature of the plant is the abrupt termination of the veining on the falls which ends at a straight line drawn across at the end of the beard. For other points of difference between I. Alberti and I. imbricata see the Observations on the latter (p. 180). This same venation is present in a plant which came from Shelford but whose history is unknown.The colour is a pearly grey with the characteristic dark veins, and this Iris must clearly be a variety or hybrid of I. Alberti. It is distinguished also by its habit of flowering more than once in the year at irregular intervals.

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Synonyms

Albert Iris; ----

Chromosome number:

2n=24 Simonet 1932, 2n=24-Randolph 1947; 2n=24, Zakirova & Nafanailova, 1990. ----

Variations

Iris albertii Regel has the following Forms: forma albertii forma erythrocarpa.

The following variations have been given cultivar names; 'Alberti Semperflorens'; 'Alberti Yellow'; 'Hakan' ----

Hybrids

Only the following hybrids with I. pallida have been named; 'Charmian', 'Cymbeline','Octavia' and Iris albertii was a grandparent of the hybrid; 'Temuri'. ----

Distribution and Cultivation

Distribution: Region:
Cultivation: seems to be the same as most bearded irises with perhaps a special emphasis on good drainage

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-- BobPries - 2009-12-01