SPEC:VERSICOLOR:exploring

From: "Dan & Marilyn Mason" <dmason@rainyriver.Lakeheadu.ca>

I spent a couple hours in a wild stand of I. Versicolors.
The plants were growing in 6 - 10 inches of water, in a
large puddle in the lowest part of a field. The crowns and
bottoms of the plants have been under water for more than a
month. The plants were thriving. Periodic flooding must help
supress competition from grasses and weeds. Perhaps flooding
also gives the irises an advantage over borers, drowning
many and restricting the rest to the upper parts of the
plants.

The Versicolors were flowering prolifically. Quite a few
bumble bees were visiting one flower after another, never
very long. I was looking to see what variation I could find
within the site. Last year I had thought there was not much
variation. This year I noticed quite a bit of variation, but
the differences were subtle. I did find a couple plants with
very pale blue flowers, as close to white as I could find. I
found some with darker purple flowers, some with more or
less yellow at the bases of the falls, some flowers had
slightly more pronounced "etching." Some flowers were closer
to blue.

I noticed one stalk with a fuller than usual flower. When I
looked closer, this flower had 5 falls and three standards,
and the stalk was thicker than other stalks.

I dug half a dozen different plants and moved them into my
poorest drained garden. It was easier digging the irises
under water at their site, than it was transplanting them
into my garden. My rubber boots would sink into the mud in
my garden making it hard to get them back out each time I
stepped.

These transplanted Versicolors continued to open flowers on
their bloomstalks. The next flower on the stalk with the
original five petaled flower, had a 'perfect' flower this
time with five falls and five standards. The flower seemed
identical to the usual Versicolor flowers, was symetrical,
except for five of everything instead of three.
I don't know if the five petaled flower was more beautiful
than the three petaled flowers, but different, interesting.

I've seen a few 4 petaled flowers on one of my SDB's this
spring, and a 2 petaled flower on a Setosa seedling a couple
days ago. Both of these had symetrical flowers. But this 5
petaled Versicolor will be something to watch and try
crossing next year, to see if the seedlings carry this
trait.  Could this five petaled selection be a natural
tetraploid, or how about a "pentaploid?" The size of the
flower was no larger than that of the flowers with three of
everything, just more full, from the extra petals.

Dan Mason  zone 3, NW Ontario
dmason@rainyriver.lakeheadu.ca


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