HYB: I. aphylla, winter deciduous, Schreiner's

A long tale of thinking, asking, and reading, with some questions at the
end:

A while ago, I posted that I had noticed that the irises that lose all
their leaves for the coldest part of winter here (low temperatures
regularly below 20o) are among the ones with a successful survival
strategy here in the land of roller coaster freezes and no protecting
snow cover (no foliage to be injured, slower to start growth in
spring).  Brad Kasperak posted a similar observation, which is probably
why I started noticing.   I think Lloyd Zurbrigg said that these also
lose their leaves in hot dry summer weather.  I asked if others had
noticed this growth habit in irises other than the ones I had.  I got
little response, but based on those who did respond, there don't seem to
be very many around.  Lloyd said he thought this growth trait comes from
I. variegata, which we have heard on the list tends to produce cultivars
that don't do well on the west coast.

Rick Tasco (California) tells me that he has noticed this growth habit
in several Schreiner introductions.  Lowell Baumunk (Colorado) tells me
that the only bearded irises he has that have this growth habit are I.
aphylla cultivars.  

The World of Iris has very little to say about aphylla.  It is in the
chapter on SDBs, but I think it has the same number of chromosomes as
the TB tetraploids.  It is mentioned on one page concerning the
development of modern TBs as contributing to black iris.  There is a
reference to an article by R. Schreiner which says that aphylla genes
may intensify color.

I found a post by Tom Little from 1996 (yes, John Jones, I looked
because I thought I remembered him mentioning something about aphylla
way back then) saying that he regards aphylla as being a close relative
to croatica.  Tom also said <There have been occasional influxes from
other species (Ii. aphylla, reichenbachii, and balkana), but genes from
these species are probably nearly negligible in most modern TBs.>

And from Clarence Mahan > For those wishing to know the origin of purple
at the base of the base of the
> leaves of some irises, here is a quote from an article W. R. Dykes wrote in
> 1915:  "Early this year there came up in my garden here many shoots of a form
> of this iris [Iris aphylla} from Ermihalyfalva in Hungary.  The deep
> purple-violet tips of some of the young shoots were really an astonishing
> sight, and these plants now retain their deep colour at the base.  Others
> were less deeply coloured, while a few were wholly green....As far as I can
> see, this colour at the base is a character unconnect with any other
> character, and occurs both in this species and in I. variegata....."
> 
> Since we know that hybrids with either I. aphylla or I. variegata as one
> parent tend to demonstrate great hybrid vigor, it would not seem surprising
> that Mike Lowe's observation that irises with purple at the base of the
> foliage tend to be very vigorous in the East. 

And from Brad Kasparak during his brief stint on the list> I grow about
a dozen aphylla species clones
> and all seem rot resistent, but only half have PBF.  In my garden it seems
> that frost damage to the spring foliage is the leading cause of soft rot.
[AMEN to that!]
And Juri Pirogov > Even the
> varieties with small quantities of aphylla's blood, such as Hager's FRINGE
> BENEFITS and GOOD SHOW, are highly vigorous.

So, what can any of you tell me about the role of aphylla in development
of TBs that isn't in the World of Iris and hasn't been posted to the
list already?  

Does anybody have the 1958 AIS bulletin article #150: 22-29 R. Schreiner
"Can this be aphylla?"

Any thoughts or opinions on this?

Is it aphylla or variegata that contributes the deciduous leaves?  Or
both?

Was this trait more common in older cultivars, for instance prior to the
exodus from Tennessee and other eastern hybridizers to the west coast
(1930's?)?

What are the <famous> TB ancestors thought to contain a lot of aphylla
<blood>?

This growth habit isn't the only successful one here - cold resistant
foliage (like HARVEST OF MEMORIES) or enough vigor to keep replacing
injured foliage are also successful.  

Linda Mann east Tennessee USA
supposed to hit 80oF today, but we have another full month before last
frost date.  Time for one more hard freeze in the 20s.
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