Re: offlist- squalens etc

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In that last post I forgot one of the best known candidates for name of the I. pallida x I. variegata hybrids.  I forgot it because it is of a quite different coloring than the rest.

 

This is I. flavescens de Candolle 1813.

 

It is not one of the oldest names though, so it will probably never be used in any official botanical capacity.

 

It would be interesting to know why some of these hybrids come out different.  Most have the expected "neglecta"/"squalens"/"variegata"/"amoena" type coloration with standards lighter than falls, and falls striped.  However, a few come out as selfs or nearly so, like 'Plumeri', 'Quaker Lady', or 'Anne Marie Cayeux' with fairly even purplish coloration (except haft marks).  Some others come out like 'G. P. Baker', 'Flavescens', 'Innocenza', and 'Mrs. Horace Darwin', with pale grounds of white or pale yellow, again with some dark veining at the hafts. [If I. flavescens was a true species, I'd say these were all that species.] 

 

Might this have to do with the coloring of the I. pallida parent? Or, perhaps some of these are second or third generation hybrids?  I think there was a photo of a near recreation of 'Quaker Lady' on Iris photos recently, and as I recall the parentage was I. variegata reginae x I. pallida 'Kupari'.  Logically you'd hardly expect it to be a lavender blend (near self) with two basically white parents.  The inheritance of color and pattern is obviously rather complicated even at the diploid species level.

 

But this is a new subject.

 

Dave