Friends,
Does anyone here have any information about 'Penae', an iris listed in the 1890s by Dammann and Co, a nursery outside Naples, Italy?
This would have been during the period when the botanist Carl Sprenger was associated with the firm, and was attempting to form a comprehensive collection of irises.
There is no description in the Dammann catalogs, but from the position in the listing, it is possibe to say that 'Penae' was a bearded iris, but not a Dwarf. Neither is it listed a such a manner as to suggest it is a form of any of the "species" then used as descriptive terms, or of Ii. germanica, or pallida. It simply occupies its place in the alphabetical listing, styled, as best I read it, as a named cultivar.
The 1939 AIS Check List styles 'Penae' as a mysterious name, but provides three citations. Only the Dammann citation has proven to be correct. My memory tells me I have seen this name somewhere else, but I have looked in so many places now that I can no longer trust my own memory on the subject.
Does anyone know anything about 'Penae', which in Latin means "penance"?
Cordially,
AMW
