■ (SPEC) Iris kochii Kerner

1887, Botanical author Kerner

'Kochii' (Anton Joseph Kerner von Marilaun, 1887, Italy). Section Iris. Registered in 1939 checklist as an IB- 'Kochii'; Early bloom season. Color Code R7D; "Standards . purple-violet, slightly lighter than falls. Falls fine purple-violet, the whitish half veined thickly with brown-purple; beard bluish white tipped with yellow."-" Distributed on Rocky ground near Trieste and Rovigno."--Cornell Univ. Agri. Exp. Sta. Memoir 100, July 1926. 2n=44. Syn. Iris kochii Kerner ex Stapf.

See below:

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

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References:

A. Kerner; Stapf in Verh. Zoo!. bot. Gesell. Wien, XXXVII. p. 649 (1887).
Dykes in The Genus Iris, 1913;Rootstock , a fleshy rhizome, resembling that of I. germanica. Leaves , 12-15 in. long, ensiform, slightly glaucescent. Stem 18 in. bearing terminal head of two flowers and about two lateral flowers. Spathe valves lanceolate, the outer partly green and the inner largely scarious at flowering time, tinged with purple at the edge. Pedicel , none or very short. Ovary , much rounded trigonal with six shallow grooves. Tube , about an inch long, brownish-green. Falls , 3½-4 in. long by 1 3/4 in. broad, obovate with a broad wedge-shaped half. The blade is narrow, of bluish-white hairs tipped with yellow. Standards , 3½-4 in. long by 2 in. broad, broadly obovate with a short canaliculate haft. The colour is a fine purple-violet, slightly lighter than that of the falls. Styles , broad, keeled, pale violet, about 1¼ long. Crests , deltoid, with a coarsely serrated outer edge. Stigma , entire, broad. Filaments , white tinged with violet. Anthers, whitish, equal in length to the filaments. Pollen , cream. Capsule , oblong, rounded trigonal. Seeds , large, elongated pyriform, brown, wrinkled.Observations.This Iris is probably nothing more than a form of I. germanica but as we have no means of knowing whether it is a wild or a garden form, it seems best to leave it as a subspecies. Seeds are rarely produced in England, and I have not yet had time to raise plants from the few that the hot summer of 1911 enabled me to obtain.As a garden plant it is perhaps the smallest of the true germanicae and some care is needed to distinguish it from another variety known as nepalensis, atropurpurea or Purple King (see p. 163).The chief differences are the slightly dwarfer habit of I. Kochii and the fact that the veining on the falls is scarcely obvious beyond the end of the style branches, while in the var. nepalensis the whitish ground is clearly seen.In dealing with herbarium material, it will be found that the names of I. Kochii and of I. benacensis are often wrongly attributed to specimens of I. Cengialti, which ought easily to be distinguished at once from either by its small and entirely scarious spathes (see p. 168).The cultivation of I. Kochii presents no difficulty in a well-drained soil.

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-- BobPries - 2010-02-08