HIST:SPEC: "German Irises?"
- Subject: HIST:SPEC: "German Irises?"
- From: H*@aol.com
- Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1999 09:21:01 EST
From: HIPSource@aol.com
In a message dated 2/8/99 9:08:42 AM Eastern Standard Time,
sidneygardener@email.msn.com writes:
<< Not all irises are German or from Germany. German Iris refers to Iris bred
from Iris germanica which is an iris species which is was used alot in the
early stages of hybridizing the modern Tall Bearded Iris. Others that were
used alot are Iris pallida, Iris mesopotamica, Iris trojana, and Iris aphylla.
>
This is a perfectly normal assumption and one that I made myself in the early
days of my iris studies, but it is not quite right. The European species Iris
germanica, an IB, rarely sets seed and it is not a progenitor of modern
bearded iris hybrids.
The term "german irises" is not an official term. It has has no real meaning,
although you will hear it spoken, especially by older people, or people
outside the iris world per se. And you will indeed encounter it in some older
literature. I understand it to refer loosly to any bearded iris other than
dwarfs, but most particularly to those we now call IBs and TBs.
Anner Whitehead
Commercial Source Chairman
Historic Iris Preservation Society,AIS
HIPSource@aol.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, or to change your subscription
to digest, go to the ONElist web site, at http://www.onelist.com and
select the User Center link from the menu bar on the left.
