Iris and some Irids 2009

[BULBISSIME]

Joakim,

your plant look's like Moraea monophylla much smaller than M. sysyrinchium.
I'll try to find a picture of it.

[tonyg]

Iris lazica - a great garden plant not needing the warmth that Iris unguicularis enjoys for good flowering.  This one is the surviving bit of a big clump that outgrew its site years ago.  Now on the edge of a heap of 'arisings' it can still flourish.  It deserves better, I will move it after flowering.

[BULBISSIME]

I like this plant which is also available in white 

[BULBISSIME]

Iris suaveolens , from balkans

[Tony Willis]

Two forms of Iris suaveolens from NW Turkey

[BULBISSIME]

Tony, very nice yellow form !

[Tony Willis]

I have not seen the purple form in Turkey which is also nice.They are all very similar to Iris attica (if not the same)

[Lvandelft]

I have not seen the purple form in Turkey which is also nice.They are all very similar to Iris attica (if not the same)

Tony, I grow both and can say that I. attica (the one I have) is not so easy as I. suaveolens, which I grew for more
than 40 years as Iris mellita.
The leaves of I. attica are more upright and the color is different too and my I. suaveolens will take several weeks
to flower after I. attica.
Here 2 pics. of my attica (one I showed in Flowering now).
The second one I made a week earlier when I had just one flower.

Iris attica

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Smashing little Irises !! 
Your yellow specimen with the dark falls looks lovely Tony !

I didn't know I. suaveolens and I. mellita were one and the same thing Luit -still learning  !... another trick of name-giving botanists trying to get us confused ?

[Hans A.]

Fred, Tony and Luit - thanks for showing this fine darf iris species!
I grow one as Iris attica ( i am not sure if it really is) the upright leaves are about twice as long as in Iris suaveolens.

[Tony Willis]

I have a number of both Iris attica and I. suaveolens.The leaves are all shapes and sizes depending on how well they are growing. I find them all difficult in my wet climate.I have them both in flower now.

Luit I think that Iris mellita has been around so long because it is easy to grow and propagate. I have in fact not seen it for sale here for some time now.

As to names I know time passes and botanists need to get their names in print to keep the money coming in but if you look in 'The Iris' by Brian Mathew there is a picture opposite page 110 of Iris attica in Turkey near Balikesir which is where my suaveolens comes from. The distinguishing feature seems to be if the bracts are keeled or not. I read a little while ago that the irises around Delphi which is in Attica hence the name, have now been called suaveolens!

[Tony Willis]

This is what I am calling Iris reichenbachii which comes from Mt Ossa in Greece. This is just south of Mt Olympus which Mathew gives as the southern limit of this species. This is from seed from 1995. The flower seems too small for the size of the plant to me,it would probably be better if it had several flower stems

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Thanks for your point of view on the naming of suaveolens/attica/mellita Tony !

I have I. reichenbachii producing 5 or 6 flowering stems in the Garden -  they'll be opening in a couple of days.  I'll be posting a picture here.

[arillady]

Tony is that tallness usual in reichenbachii? - any that I have grown have been small stemmed. I was justing thinking that drawings of the different irises on clear paper to size would be good. You could then superimpose each on top of the other to see the differences.
I do grow a few suaveolens but no atticas at the moment -well it does depend what has survived this prolonged drought.
 

[Tony Willis]

Pat

I have found this species on both Mt Olympus and Mt Ossa and this is typical of its size in the wild. Mathew gives its height in a range of 10- 30cm. The ones I have seen have been at the top end.Both the attica and suaveolens are up to 15cms.