Re: SPEC:I. lazica

I had my house fumigated for termites earlier this week and have just got through
the week's  iris-talk e-mail, so this response is a bit late.

I have seen three plants that are supposed to be I. lazica. The one I bought
from the Iris Gallery and the one I saw at the UBC Botanic Garden
to my (untrained) eye had flowers look quite similar to I. unguicularis, which
itself seems to show a certain amount of variation of bloom between cultivars.
Both of those plants had the characteristic styles that distinguish these two
iris from other species. The I. lazica I grow showed no stem and I didn't notice
any on the ones in the Botanical Garden. A stem is certainly a nice characteristic
to have in this iris. The leaves of these species do seem to differ from one another,
though it's not a characteristic that I automatically notice.

The other plant that is supposed to be I. lazica, I grew from NARGS seeds.
It appears to be a PCN, probably I. douglasiana. It is certainly not I. lazica.

I'll have to try to get I. lazica from other souces to see if I can get a stemmed
variety.

   Ken Walker
   Concord, CA USA
   USDA  Zone 9, Sunset Zone 14

Bill Shear wrote:

> After seeing bloom on I. lazica here at home and this past weekend at
> Tony Avent's garden in Raleigh, I can definitely support the notion
> that this is a species entirely distinct from I. unguicularis.  Not
> only does the flower look quite different in form (looks a lot like
> I. missouriensis!) but the plant has shorter, broader, darker green,
> glossy foliage, borne on creeping rhizomes that retain the leaves of
> much of their length.  Also, unlike unguicularis, lazica has a
> bloomstalk, which in the case of my plant is even branched, so that
> each stem, though no taller than 8-10", bears 4-5 flowers.
>
> In my garden, lazica thrives in a partly shaded spot in somewhat
> enriched clay soil, but Tony had it growing in a rock-garden-like
> setting on a mound of gravelly, sandy soil.  It was doing much better
> for him, or at least he had a bigger clump.  I do not know if there
> are any plans for Plant Delights to offer it in the future.  My
> plants came from Arrowhead Alpines, which is proving to be quite a
> reliable source for iris species.
> --
>
> Bill Shear
> Department of Biology
> Hampden-Sydney College
> Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
> (804)223-6172
> FAX (804)223-6374
> email<wshear@email.hsc.edu>
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