SPEC: I. maackii

The following on this subject from Jim Waddick:

>>Dear Bill;
>
>	It is good to hear from you.
>	Iris maackii poses a number of problems. I have not been able
>to read the original description to see what was stated there. I have
>a copy of Komorov's 'Flora of Manshurica' (1901) which has a brief
>listing for I maackii, but my Russian is 'poor' and I'd be glad to
>scan this for someone who can translate it. I assume the color of the
>flower is given, perhaps not.
>
>	First Dykes:
>		I assume he saw some herbarium sheets and knowing
>their usual condition a lot is 'lost' in preparing an herbarium
>sheet. I bet he couldn't determine flower color or he'd have never
>concluded I. laevigata.
>	I think he may have been using 'backward logic': I
>pseudacorus doesn't occur there, therefore it can't be I pseudacorus
>or the only likely iris there is I laeviagata, therefore it must be
>laevigata.
>
>	But this brings up a further, bigger difficulty with the true
>distribution of I pseudacorus. Most texts will list I pseudacorus as
>native to Europe (period). Reports of early botanists to other
>continents including North America and Asia who found I pseudacorus
>passed this off as 'introduced'. I have personally seen a number of
>plants from rather remote areas both recent and more historical that
>suggest that I pseudacorus may have or had a circum-polar
>distribution with some glacial disruptions leaving remnant
>populations around such as the location of I maackii. This may be
>either a local form of I pseudacorus at best.
>	Dr. Rodionenko has recently sent me plants-a couple of which
>were in the Dallas Silent Auction - of I. mzchetica which appear to
>me to be yet another local form of I pseudacorus. Two years ago
>friends brought me a wild collected Russian Iris for ID collected in
>a remote location which has also proven to be I pseudacorus (or a
>local form).
>
>	There are no geographical subspecies of I pseudacorus. This
>may be due to considerable pre and post glacial stirring of the gene
>pool. It may also attest to the ease of disbursion of the seed by
>water fowl. I belive it has been observed that geese for example will
>eat the pods of I pseudacorus and in their vast migrations may well
>have help to spread the seed around the world-complete with a
>fertilizer boost.
>
>>	Zhao and I treated this as a valid taxon until the evidence
>>is in. Since the book was published Zhao collected seed from the
>>type locality and found no evidence of water iris with any other
>>flower color (than yellow) at that site.
>
>	I suspect it is at best a subspecies of I pseudacorus, at
>worst a simple synonym. The evidence is still not in.
>
>	What I'd like to see is someone do extensive historical
>research on the original distribution of I pseudacorus and try to
>track potential introductions by humans. For example we know that
>people have lived in the Ussuri River area for hundreds of years, but
>is there any evidence for travellers from Europe who might have had
>some reason for bringing seed or plants of I pseudacorus with them?
>	First described in 1880, the area was even then remote and
>not on a major trade route. When did this area first have regular
>contact with European botanists? Even Maximowicz would have been on a
>distant trek from St. Petersburg. I suspect he himself did not
>collect the specimen, but had a student or assistant collect
>specimens and these could have been collected a couple to ten years
>prior to the actual publication of this name.Just a guess.
>
>	So you see there is not a lot of hard evidence. Having not
>seen the same specimens that Dykes saw it is hard to pin down the ID.
>Does the type specimen still exist? Maximowicz was  from St.
>Petersburg. I wonder if the specimen still exists in their herbarium?
>I'll inquire of Dr. Rodionenko.
>
>	Meanwhile it is important to keep asking these questions, but
>then one must look at the evidence. Right now all evidence points to
>I maackii as a synonym of I pseudacorus, but .......always a but, it
>just isn't a sure thing.

Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(804)223-6172
FAX (804)223-6374
email<bills@mail.hsc.edu>

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