Re: SPEC: atroviolacea
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: SPEC: atroviolacea
- From: "* a* C* W* <c*@digitalpla.net>
- Date: Sun, 5 Apr 1998 11:04:36 -0600 (MDT)
Anner writes:
>
> Now, the BIS book gives "Atroviolacea" as a synonym of I. germanica f.
> Australis, and notes that Dykes considered the possibility that this was
I.
> kochii, which idea the author discounts as not consistent with some
aspects of
> Todaro's description, by which I must assume we are talking about
Todaro's
> description of Australis.[?]
The Adamgrove catalog lists I. pallida "Australis" (Todaro, 1861) as
violet-blue standards; darker, strappy falls with stalk height at 26"-32".
This would certainly be something different from "pumila atroviolacea".
Note the species designation as "pallida", not "germanica". This is
consistent with the 1939 Checklist, which has no entry for I. germanica
australis (or any variant thereof), but lists AUSTRALIS (Todaro, 1861) with
Pallida Australis as a synonym.
>
> (pumila) Atroviolacea, the most famous of these,
> listed by Todaro in 1856, is often called the "cemetary iris" because it
was
> carried by our ancestors across the country and often used to cover
graves.'
If only to make confusion worse confounded, the traditional "cemetery
flags" in these parts are not any form of dwarf iris, but good old I.
germanica itself.
Jeff Walters in northern Utah (USDA Zone 4, Sunset Zone 2)
cwalters@digitalpla.net
