Re: HYB: Fertility and chromosome count for Swertii please

Maybe I'm a bit weird, but I sort of like the "tucked and pinched form" of
'Swertii'.  I think a line of Irises with this form could be quite nice
indeed, but the big question, is "am I the only one?".  It also has that
grape smell so common in I. pallida.

I going to quote you here Steve  "Not everyone has/had the same "perfect
iris" in mind."

There are a few others that are similar in form to 'Swertii''.  A number of
European small species usually have a similarly tucked flower, but usually
also more elongate. 'Fairy' is another plicata pallida type, and has a
similar, though not as pronounced form to that of 'Swertii'.  'Fairy' has
the plicata pattern much less strongly expressed, barely a wash, so it may
be useful in perhaps having some sort of genes that modify the plicata
pattern.  I have a nice small solid blue I. pallida that tends toward that
flower form too, but not nearly so strongly - very fragrant - maybe
'Odoratissima', but my ordered plants of that name are different and
larger, and more likely correct (?).

I have gotten pods consistently on 'Swertii' and 'Fairy', but I have never
purposely pollinated them, so the insects are responsible.  The seeds look
good, but again, I still need to germinate them.  I have never really
checked the pollen fertility on any I. pallida type, but have no reason to
suspect it is not fertile on most of them.  If they are wild reproducing
species there should be no reason for reduced pollen fertility except as an
individual fluke.  So, not much to go on there, but some.

Personally I don't find the idea of I. variegata influence in 'Swertii'
very convincing, but there might be some.  There are some MTB cultivars
with definite variegata ancestry that look quite a lot like pure cengialtii
(a small pallida), but those don't look much like 'Swertii' either.

If the form and small size of 'Swertii' are not appealing, there are
several other pallida type plicatas, and nearly all of them have a more
"acceptable" form, with larger flowers, larger and less tucked falls, and
even a hint of ruffling on some of them.

Interesting how climate can affect height of Irises.  I doubt I've ever
seen a 'Swertii' stalk that got even close to 30 inches; 24 inches wouldn't
be unusual though.   In fact, it is pretty uncommon that any I. pallida (or
any TB for that matter) reaches 30 inches for me.  Believe it or not, so
far in this yard, only 'Conjuration' routinely does; of course I don't grow
everything; others might if I had them.


Dave
central NM

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