Re: I. versicolor 'Murrayana'

 

Iris virginica is not a hybrid. It is a species of hybrid origin. That origin is believed to have occured ten thousand years ago during the last ice age. The parent was not hookeri but Iris setosa interior whose range was pushed south by the ice sheet. The researcher who investigated this was Edgar Anderson director of the Missouri Botanical Gardens and most of his papers on this are found published in the Missouri Botanical Gardens Annals. Anderson was a great friend of the Iris Society and had an iris test garden at MoBot. He was also the author of Iris xrobusta which IS a hybrid as denoted by the x in its name. Robusta is a fairly commonly grown plant with several selected cultivars, Gerald Darby being one of the best known. Nature is constantly evolving but generally species are no longer considered hybrids after having found a niuche in the natural world for thousands of years. Many Irises like the Pacific Coast Natives are still in the process of speciation. Some authors would say that all the more or less 10 species of PCN are all one species that is constantly separating and coming together. Others sort out the 10 species and note that perhaps as many plants growing in this region are hybrids as there are pure species. Nature does not have semantics that is a human invention.  

From: "Sean A. Zera" <zera@umich.edu>
To: iris-species@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, October 6, 2011 9:51:50 AM
Subject: Re: [iris-species]  I. versicolor 'Murrayana'

 

I believe the current assumption is that versicolor is a hybrid
between virginica and hookeri (a.k.a. setosa v. canadensis). Not
counting hookeri, the nearest setosa is in southern Alaska, thousands
of miles away from versicolor or virginica.

Since virginica and versicolor (and probably Ãrobusta) are mixed up or
simply not distinguished in the nursery trade, and are planted in
large numbers in wetland mitigations and restorations, I'd be
surprised if there aren't lots of populations established outside
their original ranges.

Sean Z

Quoting Chuck Chapman <i*@aim.com>:

> I just looked at article on Murrayana.
>
> Very interesting.
>
> A couple of observations. The offspring of Murrayana X vesicolor 
> sound very much like offspring of crosses of virginica x versicolor 
> Except that the "Robusta" plants are usually fertile.
>
> Also versicolor were produced from a natural cross of setosa x
> virginica. And  hokerii is very closely related to setosa. Hookeri
> and  versicolor are both native to Newfoundland.
>
> I found Cast Ashore (a robusta) in an area that has versicolor but
> no virginica. so you can have  plant relics or  hybrid relics in
> strange locations.
>
> Chuck Chapman
>
> Sometimes
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Eleanor Hutchison &lt;e*@mymts.net&gt;
> To: iris-species &lt;i*@yahoogroups.com&gt;
> Sent: Wed, Oct 5, 2011 10:31 pm
> Subject: [iris-species] I. versicolor 'Murrayana'
>
>  
> Todd, I rec'd this iris today, so looked up a bit more information
> about it and came across your interesting article at Dave's Garden,
> "The Story of Iris versicolor 'Murrayana'".
>  
> I hope I planted it at the correct depth, as it had roots heading
> up one of the stems.
>  
> El, Ste Anne, Manitoba, Canada
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

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