Syrian onco trip 2011

[xthomasx]

It is good to find you safe and not fallen over the Syrian cliff, Thomas!

May I remind you, and others, that the preferred size for Forum pictures is a maximum of 760 pixels wide?

Sorry, didn't know. I only knew about the 500k max size. 

[xthomasx]

Great Pictures Thomas, I'm very happy to see them !
shall we go to the next day ?

Go ahead. I don't have any photos of the next day. Anyway, the excursion to I. yebrudii ssp. edgecombii would be better told than shown in photos 

I'll dig through the kirkwoodii stuff (Apr. 13, 14) tonight or tomorrow.

[arillady]

Great photos Thomas but the environment is not the best in some ways.

[Miriam]

Fantastic photos Thomas!!!

It seems Iris bostrensis has the golden background color which is typical to Iris auranitica. Are the habitats of Iris auranitica and Iris bostrensis close to each other? What is the altitude there?

Iris swensoniana seems to grow in a more arid zone: the dark color of the flower and the size (what is the the size of the flowers?like Iris petrana in Yerucham?)

[xthomasx]

I. swensoniana has about the same flower size as I. petrana but the entire plant is much smaller. The habitat is basalt gravel only, almost no organic materials, and extremely dry. 

The altitude should be about 1050 m for this bostrensis population, the tels where I. auranitica grows are at about 1500 m but they grow on the lower slopes as well, maybe at 1300 m. Bostrensis seems to be much more common in this area (not a good region to explore at the moment), and well into Jordan, but I know this population only.

[BULBISSIME]

Thomas, I'll let you tell the story about this day... 

and I show you some pictures of Iris yebrudii spp. edgecombii, north to Damas.
This species is close to I. damascena and it's really difficult to distinguish them if you don't have the origin of the plant.
P. mouterde in "Nouvelle flore du Liban et de la Syrie" only mention it  without description

It was described by Dinsmore & Chaudhary, with one subspecies : ssp. edgecombii with larger flower than the type, more densely veined.
We didn't found the type... for the next trip 

[PeterT]

Very beautiful pictures Thomas and Fred, I had not heard of Iris yebrudii

[arillady]

Now we need some maps with topography showing where the different species are native so that we can get a picture of the conditions that suit. But I guess that might not be a good idea for the unscrupulous plant collectors.

[Ezeiza]

That's the point, Pat. One can never be alert enough. Thanks for mentioning it.

[xthomasx]

In fact, the I. yebrudii ssp. edgecombii habitat was the only place where I really needed assistance in addition to the books. And it came from Prof Chaudhary himself in 2007.

All the other locations can be found -by scientists and unscrupulous collectors alike- just by reading readily available sources. Of course, GPS data and other stuff must not be published, but generally the locations are not too big a secret, I'm afraid.

[Lesley Cox]

Iris yebrudii is a SCRUMPTIOUS iris.

[BULBISSIME]

Same day, after some discussions with our driver who would prefer to go back to Damas....because the previous Iris was not really in a safe place...
Finally, we went to a place to search Iris assadiana, with an incredible wind ( small stones were flying ) that we founded one week too late, only one poor flower left, destroyed by the wind.
This is a really small and stoloniferous species, growing in the desert.

[arillady]

Interesting how I.assadiana does form clumps - guess the available nutrients help to dictate this.
 

[Miriam]

Wonderful pictures!
In my opinion, this Iris yebrudii ssp. edgecombii is just another population of Iris damascena and not a different species...

Same day, after some discussions with our driver who would prefer to go back to Damas....because the previous Iris was not really in a safe place...

The entire Middle East is not really a safe zone unfortunately

[Hans A.]

Great pictures Thomas and Fred! I really envy you...

The pictures of Iris yebrudii ssp. edgecombii are the first good ones I see! Thank you so much for sharing them, from the picyures it is really complicate to see differences between this one and Iris damascena -  it may be a bit darker and it hardly seems to have an Oncoblotch, but who knows how the others are...

Like the picture of Iris assadiana - to see such healthy leaves in such an vegetationfree area is surprisingly!