RE: Iris In Bloom

And to continue on with Clarence's part of the story:
The Moorish influence in Spain shows up in that when Spanish colonists settled 
in this part of the world (northern New Mexico), they were planting iris on 
graves here, too.  If you asked them, though, they of course would have said 
it was a Christian thing.  It's still common to find old flag iris growing in 
some of the old cemetaries, especially in the more rural areas.

Barb, in Santa Fe, where some of those old purple iris will be blooming on 
Camino Carlos Rey in the next week or two.

----------
From: 	iris-l@rt66.com on behalf of CEMahan@aol.com
Sent: 	Monday, May 05, 1997 6:03 AM
To: 	Multiple recipients of list
Subject: 	Re: Iris In Bloom

In a message dated 97-05-04 22:54:21 EDT, you write:

<<  As
 an iris lover, I had heard the lore that irises were spread up through
 the Balkans by Turkish soldiers who carried the rhizomes to plant on
 their comrades' graves.  >>

There is definitely something to this story except many of the most important
bearded iris species are native to the Balkans, e.g. pallida, variegata, etc.
  On the other hand, Turkish soldiers did aid the spread of irises,
especially Iris albicans, the lovely white iris which is often mistaken for
Iris florentina.  Albicans is the white iris in Van Gogh's famous
painting---the purple irises are Iris germanica. The Turks , Moors, and other
Moslems traditionally place Iris albicans on graves. I would imagine if
albicans were not available they would use other types of irises.  Clarence
Mahan in VA
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index