Missouriensis, color charts, names, etc.

Glad to see someone working with I. missouriensis. It was the wild iris of my
Montana yourth. It grew very well in pastures forming clumps about a foot in
diameter. The seed pods made wonderful "rattlesnake rattles." The form I grew
up with was very pale with stippled veins and was virtually the same for
hundreds of square miles. Only in my college years did I find a population
which varied from white through lavender and shades of blue. This group was
growing near Larmie, Wyoming.
One of my first mentors in Iris was Homer Metcalf would did a PhD on
missouriensis. He collected plants from all over the known range and grew
them in a garden at Montana State University at Bozeman. I do not know what
became of his work after he died.

I do not find color charts very helpful in describing iris colors. Even if
they can be matched to the iris, they can be very misleading in that what
appears to be white to the eye almost always becomes tinted with some color
when you take the chart to the plant. I would say it doesn't make a whole lot
of difference what the color chart says if the psychological effect on the
veiwer is different. That said I would love to have a list translating the
RHS numbers into words. Some hybridizers use a French color chart with names
that don't give a clue what they are talking about. Rose doree, opaline,
orange cerise, etc.

An interesting thing about color descriptions is that they try to draw on the
average experience of people. Calling something wisteria blue probably means
more to the average person than to a wisteria specialist! The specialist
probably knows a dozen wisteria blues. The same with the term raspberry.
Probably doesn't mean diddily to someone who grows 30 kinds of raspberries.

You can bet that almost any name will offend somebody. Witches' Sabbath came
in for a lot of comment. For my part if a name fits a seedling, I'll go with
it.
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