Re: Dutch Irises now Spanish Irises


The seven or eight species in the group are all natives of the western
Mediterranean: Spain, Portugal, Morocco, southern Italy, and Sicily, with
one species extending north into the Pyrenees.  The species are for the
most part now grown only by specialists and botanical gardens, having been
supplanted by selections and hybrids.  Today Xiphiums are divided, somewhat
arbitrarily, into Spanish, Dutch and English Irises.

Spanish Irises
Of the three groups of varieties, only the Spanish Irises are aptly named.
These kinds are all selections from the single species Iris xiphium, which
is indeed native to Spain (as well as France, Italy and north Africa).
Spanish Irises come in a wide color range, reflecting the variability of
the parent species.   Growing from small, hard bulbs with a tough tunic, or
outer husk, white, violet, red-purple, blue, and yellow varieties are
available.  All have rather grassy, rush-like foliage.

These irises have flowers from three to four inches wide, held on stems
that may reach eighteen inches; they have the insouciant charm of plants
that retain the characters of the wild species from which they sprang.
Their bloom season usually coincides with the Tall Bearded season.

Dutch Irises
Dutch Irises are not native to the Low Countries, but are the product of
the Dutch genius for flower breeding and selection. 7-3  They are the
results of crosses between selected varieties of Spanish Irises (I.
xiphium) and some of the other Xiphium species, such as I. tingitana, I.
fontanesii and  I. filifolia. The resulting plants were then crossed among
themselves for many generations and selected for larger flowers and taller
stems.
Today's varieties are far removed from the parent species, though the
hybridizing work began as recently as the early years of this century.

With four to five inch flowers on two-foot stems, the Dutch Irises have the
same wide color range as the Spanish Irises, and their hybrid background
gives them great vigor.  Because they include genes from the early-blooming
I. xiphium praecox, they flower about two weeks earlier than the Spanish
Irises and are good companions for late tulips (Dutch iris with too much
praecox in them may develop too rapidly in spring and get nipped by late
freezes; this is true of the lovely old blue 'Wedgewood').  It is these
irises that are grown in such huge numbers for the cut-flower trade.

English Irises
Lastly, the English Irises are no more English than the Dutch Irises are
Dutch.   These are all selections from the species Iris latifolia, the
Xiphium species of the Pyrenees.  Their name comes from the fact that they
first became popular in England and the named varieties were raised there.
The bulbs are large and rather fragile, and the flowers are broader and
more opulent than their southern cousins, five inches wide and held on
twenty-four to thirty-six inch stems.  Their foliage is broader, less
grassy and rush-like.  The color range of the English Irises is more
limited than that found in the Dutch or Spanish strains, from lovely whites
to deep red-purples, passing through all shades between, as well as fine,
clear blues.  Their blooming season is later than even the Spanish Irises,
and they span the brief gap between the Tall Bearded Irises and the
Japanese Irises.

Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(804)223-6172
FAX (804)223-6374
email<bills@hsc.edu>
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