Extract from Dykes - full copy online
http://archive.org/stream/irisesdykeswilli00dykerich/irisesdykeswilli00dykerich_djvu.txtVARIETIES OF I. PERSICA 19
its best has flowers of white and sea-green, with a brown-
purple patch on the blade of the falls. It has been in culti-
vation in England for some centuries, but is apparently
becoming rarer owing to the fact that it is not a strong
grower.
In light, sandy soil it is most disappointing, but would
probably do better in heavy loam. Even then it would
need to be kept dry and well ripened in summer. The
chief difficulty with regard to it probably lies in the fact
that the trade supplies are grown in heavy soil and lose all
their roots when torn up for sale. The result is that newly
purchased bulbs are weakly, and often exhaust themselves
by attempting to flower in their first season. This should
be discouraged by removing the bud, if it is hoped to
establish the plant. It will then probably form a stronger
bulb for the following year, together with an offset
or two.
Besides the type there are at least two varieties which
are well worth growing and which appear to have better
constitutions, namely, /. Tauri from the Cilician Taurus
and 7. Heldreichii (or stenophylla) from a somewhat lower
elevation in the same neighbourhood. 7. Tauri has rather
small but brilliant flowers of deep purple lined with gold,
while those of 7. Heldreichii are a combination of blue-
black blotches on a grey-blue ground.
Besides these there are other colour forms of 7. persica
that are much more rarely seen in cultivation. A variety,
purpurea, is wholly of a warm claret-purple colour. One
called galatica, from the region in which it is found, has
flowers of pale, dingy yellow, tipped with brown-purple,
and another with large flowers of silver-grey flushed and
blotched with dull purple has been named Sieheana, after
its discoverer, Herr Siehe.
So far the Juno Irises enumerated are all stemless,
though the flowers are raised on perianth tubes of some
length ; moreover their flowering season is over by the
middle of March. As the season advances, so also do the
stems of the Junos increase in height. The persicas are
usually followed, and often overtaken, by the Mesopotamia!!
/. sindjarensis f which grows about a foot high, and opens in
succession five or six rather small flowers in the axils of the
leaves, which are arranged on alternate sides of the stem,
much in the same way as in the Maize or Indian Corn.
The colour of the flowers is usually some shade of blue.
In some examples the tint is deep, in others it is very pale,
or it may even be a beautiful turquoise colour. There is
also a pure white form of this Iris in cultivation.
/. sindjarensis is not perhaps a very striking Iris, and it was
left to the ingenuity of Mr. J. Hoog, of the firm of C. G.
Van Tubergen, of Haarlem, to combine the orange central
ridge of /. persica with the stronger constitution and larger
flowers of /. sindjarensis. The resulting hybrid known as
Sindpers is one of the most beautiful of all bulbous Irises.
The exact shade of colour seems to vary from season to
season and in different soils, but at its best it is a most
brilliant turquoise blue. It is a most desirable Iris, and
one that is not difficult to grow or to keep. It is also
very floriferous. Another cross, Sindpur, was raised from
sindjarensis fertilised by pollen of /. persica purpurea. It
is dwarf er than /. sindjarensis and very floriferous, with
flowers of a dark purple colour. One form is paler, and has
been aptly christened Amethyst. The reverse cross, Pursind,
is scarcely so pleasing, for the combination of reddish-
purple and grey does not produce a brilliant colour.
