Hi, there!

Good Morning!

I'm new to the group, and of course have lots of questions. 

Let's see - some background: I'm a life-long iris fancier, due in
large part to my great aunt's garden of herilooms, which are alas all
gone now. I currently have a small (modern) collection in my Denver,
CO garden. My other interest is in useful and decorative plants
pre-1600, and thus am looking for old European iris species,
especially Florentina, Dalmatica, and Pallida (hopefully, I'm calling
these by the correct names - if not, please correct my understanding).
I'm interested in not only acquiring a pre-1600 collection, but
gaining a better understanding of the relationships between the
species, as well as the variations in color, size, shape, etc. 

At the moment, I'm curious about some irises that appear in Hugo van
der Goes' The Adoration of the Shepherds (1476-79). To see a picture,
go to the Web Gallery of Art, and search on van der Goes as the author
and flowers as the text. Although the posibility of "artistic license"
exists, I cannot believe that these are anything but a faithful
fifteenth century representation of contemporary flowers, due to the
level of detail and careful representation of other aspects of van der
Goes works.

One iris is black - almost like Superstition, which I understand is a
germanica (which I hear is 18th century, IIRC). There is striping
along the edges of the falls, beginning at the base, and running about
half-way along the falls. The bottoms of the falls turn outward like
many modent TBs, and the beards are very light - beige or yellow. Then
there are the white ones, with oval standards and falls, and light
beards. These *look like* TB irises; any idea what the species might
be, and further, any sources? 

Thanks!

Melanie 






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