Iris xanthospuria comparison [3 Attachments]

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The three photos compare two wild-collected yellow spuria iris from Turkey. The one on the left is from Koycegiz in south west Turkey. This is in one of the three provinces where the BIS guide to species iris lists collections of Iris xanthospuria. The other two locations listed are in central and south-central Turkey. The iris on the right is from Van, Turkey in the east.

The leaves on the Koycegiz specimen are up to 106 cm long and 18 mm wide which matches well with the maximum size listed in the guide of 100 cm and 18 mm. The leaves of the Van plant are up to 111 cm long and 22 mm wide, so they are quite robust. I was able to get seeds off the Koycegiz plant from pollen off the Van plant, even though far fewer than from it's own pollen. Despite the fact that the Van seeds were in with some Iris spuria musulmanica seeds and from further west than the guide lists, I'm pretty confident calling it Iris xanthospuria.

Ken Walker
Concord, CA USA
USDA Zone 9