(SPEC) Iris straussii Leichtlin ex Micheli

1899, Leichtlin

Iris straussii (Max Leichtlin ex Micheli, Rev. Hort. (Paris) 71: 363 (1899). There seems to be a lot of confusion about this name. The world Checklist @ Kew accepts it as a legitimate name but notes that Mathew & Wendelbo in For a Iranica say there is not an adequate description. No specimens (images) noted. See discussion in references.

See below:

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

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References:

Rev. Hort. (Paris) 71: 363 (1899). Micheli wrote: Iris Straussi. — Récolté dans les environs de Sultanabad en Perse par M. Th. Strauss, et mis en culture par M. Max Leichtlin, ce petit Iris appartient à la section Pogoniris (Iris barbus). C’est une plante basse (6 à 7 centimètres), à feuilles étroites, et à tige biflore. La fleur est assez grande et d’un violet brunâtre. Les lanières externes un peu plus pâles portent une ligne de poils bleus bien marqués; les lanières internes, érigées, sont plus foncées. I. Straussi forme, avec les I. attica de Grèce, ruhro-marginata d’Asie-Mineure, et mellita de Thrace un petit groupe très-naturel d’espèces naines, fort jolies et bien adaptées à la culture sur rocaille ensoleillée. Translation: Iris Straussi . — Harvested near Sultanabad in Persia by Mr. Th Strauss, and cultured by Max Leichtlin this little Iris â belongs Pogoniris the section (bearded iris). This is a ground cover (6-7 centimeters), with narrow leaves and stem two flowered. The flower is quite large and brownish purple. Falls a little paler carry a line of well-marked blue hair; internal strips, erected, are darker. The I. Straussi form , with I. Attica Greece, rubro - marginata -Mineure Asia and Thrace mellita of a small group of very natural dwarf species , very pretty and well adapted to grow on sunny rock garden. '
(The 1939 checklists attributes an Iris straussi to Lynch (1906) and assigns it to Iris reichenbachii). This appears to be a form of Iris reichenbachii not alluded to in Mathew's The Iris. It is perhaps the same as 'Balkana' but the following is Lynch's (1904) description. I. Straussii, Haussk. A new and distinct Iris. It belongs, apparently, to the biflora group, and comes near I. balkana, I think. The rhizome is stout and short-creeping. The leaves in the plant I have seen form a close tuft; they are ensiform, falcate, glaucous, and about 2 1/2 in. long at flowering time. The stem is rather longer, bearing one flower; the larger spathe-valves are oblong, 2 1/2 in. long by 5/8 in. broad, acutely pointed green, the pedicel hardly exceeding 1/8 in. The tube is 1 in. long, slender, narrowing to the base. The falls are 2 in. long, obovate-cuneate, the beard composed of dense white hairs tipped violet. In color the flower is dull purple, the falls lighter below, with thickish purple veins; the blade is distinctly veined (when dry) like an insects wing, the veins being fine and clear. The standards are obovate, oblong, narrowed below to a short claw; the lower part of the blade is light in color, and the purple of the blade above is here continued in very small spots....native of Persia".

Error: no images found

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-- BobPries - 2011-03-07