Re: Re: missouriensis interspecies hybrids?

In a message dated 4/23/2004 6:46:10 AM Mountain Daylight Time, rbarton@hsc.unt.edu writes:
The one known location of I. missouriensis in Mexico is in the sate of
Coahuila which is in central Mexico.  There must be or at least have been
irises all along the central mountains.  Even the colony in Coahuila was
"lost" for a time.


I do apologize if my tone seemed negative.  When writing about I. missourienses, I've taken pains to report only those stands I have observed myself. 

Decades ago, when Homer Metcalf was still studying the missourienses complex, I made some field trips to gather information about the sourthern extent.  At one time the colonies I recorded and photographed in the Sacramento mountains were the southernmost confirmed ones.  They were so robust that it seemed quite reasonable to expect to find others further south. [For those not familiar with the area, the portion I was exploring is less than 75 miles from Mexico]. 

Of course, there were reports of others even then.  The question is really "known to whom?"  Many "missouriensis" sightings have turned out to be nothing more than some naturalized iris that have survived on an old homestead.  Confirmation requires expert observation.  I have not seen the Coahuila colony or the documentation regarding it myself, so I can't confirm or refute it.  If it really is I. missouriensis, though, that lends credence to reports of colonies along the border and in northern Mexico.

For example, some of the most credible regard remnants in the Organ Mountains [less than 50 miles from Mexico].  I have not seen them myself.  That's rugged country, now accessible by a couple of hiking trails, but by the time they were opened my own hiking days were over.  A young expert, fit enough to hike several miles at an altitude over a mile above sea level, would have to make that documentation trek. 

The most intriguing reports, to me, involve colonies in the bootheel of southwestern NM that extend west into the southeastern corner of AZ and south into the Mexican state of Chihuahua.  There are multiple accounts, from completely independent sources.  Again, though, that's rugged country -- another assignment for the next generation of explorers.

"Someday" we may have confirmation of a much more extensive range.  Then, I predict, the question of subspecies will rise again....

Sharon McAllister
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