Re: RE Iris plicata

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A quick check into Dyck's writing (1913) comes up with the following, which may help explain a few other things too.

 

 

 

I. aphylla Hort. (non Linnaeus) = I. plicata

 

I. swertii Hort. "Named after Sweert, who figured it in his Florilegium (1612), t. 40, fig. 3 as Chamaeiris oris coeruleis alba"

 

I haven't found a legitimate publication for I. swertii, Lamarck named it (in 1779?), and most of his names are not recognized as legitimately published.  He named I. plicata as well, but it is apparently legitimate.

 

Dyck's also said: "I. plicata, which is to all intents a pallida except in colour (cf. I. Swertii, which stands in the same relation to I. Cengialti), is probably either an approximately albino form or a hybrid of I. pallida in which some factor or combination of factors succeeds in suppressing the purple colour except for the veins on the edges of the standards and falls.  Plants of this type, of which "Mme Chereau" is perhaps the best known example, are common in gardens and the amount and exact shade of the veining vary considerably."

 

In another discussion Dyck's again mentions I. plicata: "On the whole I am inclined to think that the two plants that Linnaeus described as I. sambucina and I. squalens were both hybrids of I. pallida and I. variegata.  They are intermediate in many ways between these two species, e.g. in the spathes and in the colour, and the leaves die down in winter as do those of both the supposed parents.  The fact that forms closely resembling I. sambucina and I. squalens have been obtained from crosses between I. plicata and I. variegata seems to support this view, for I. plicata is only apparently an example of I. pallida in which some factor is present that prevents the purple colour from appearing except at the edges of the segments."

 

One more little blurb mentions the name:  "Other facts, which would tend to variability in the hybrids of these two species, are that I. variegata is apparently liable in the wild sate to produce forms in which the yellow ground colour is replaced by white, while I. pallida has produced either under cultivation or in the wild state the plicata forms with flowers, which are wholly white except for the lavender or purple reticulations bordering the segments.

 

Here is a link to a site where a photo of a Redoute print of I. 'Swertii' is shown.  It should be easy to find better quality representations on line at other sites, but I didn't really look.  It does look like it represents a plicata form of I. pallida, but it doesn't look to me like the clone currently called 'Swertii', nor does it seem to fit Dyck's concept of 'Swertii' as representing a plicata form of I. [pallida var.] cengialtii.  Sorry about the URL being broken into more than one line, but it is very long.

 

 

Dave