■ (SPEC) Iris grant-duffi Baker

1892, Botanical author Baker

Iris grant-duffii Baker (John Gilbert Baker, 1892, Palestine, Southeast Asia Minor); Section Limniris, Series Syriacae.

See below:

• * References
• * Chromosome counts
• * Synonyms
• * Variations
• * Hybrids
• * Distribution and Cultivation

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References:

Handbook of the Irideae 7. 1892;
Baker gives the following in Curtis's Botanical Magazine. 124: tab. 7604; 1898,; "This very distinct new Iris was first collected, so far as our records show, in 1864, by Mr. B. T. Lowne on the banks of the river Kishon. Several years later it was found by Sir M. E. Grant Duff in the plain of Esdraelon, recognized as a distinct species, and introduced into cultivation. It comes nearest to two of the North American species, I. tenax, Dougl. (Bot. Mag. Tab. 3343), and I. Douglasiana, Herb. (Bot. Mag. T. 6083). Our drawing was made from a plant flowered by Mr. W. E. Gumbleton at Queenstown in February, 1897. Descr.-Rhizome short, creeping. Base of the stem rather swollen, surrounded by a truncate scariose brown sheath. Leaves about six to a stem, linear, firm, erect, rather glaucous, a foot and a half or two feet long at the flowering season, flat, with a narrow, scariose, white margin. Stem much shorter than the leaves, simple, bearing one or two erect reduced leaves. Spathe-valves linear, firm, green, three or four inches long. Pedicel an inch long. Ovary cylindrical, rostrate, as long as the pedicel. Perianth pale yellow; tube very short; outer segments oblanceolate-oblong, three inches long, spreading from the middle, furnished with an orange keel, veined below the middle with lilac-brown; inner segments rather shorter, erect, concolorous, pale yellow, oblanceolate-unguiculate. Crests of the style-branches lanceolate, pale yellow."
Krel. 1906; Barr 1910; Macoun;
Dykes in The Genus Iris, 1913: Description. Rootstock , hard, fibrous, somewhat annulate, the rings marking each season's growth, covered with fine bristles so sharp and rigid as to pierce the skin when the roots are handled. These bristles are the remains of withered leaves. Leaves , linear, moderately firm, about a foot and a half in length, ¼ in. broad. *Stem* , I-headed, 6 in. long, bearing about 2 lanceolate sheathing leaves. Spathe valves , I-flowered, 4-7 in. long, narrowly lanceolate, acuminate, rigid, green. Pedicel , 3-5 in. long. Ovary , cylindrical or much rounded trigonal, becoming narrower above. Tube , short, usually under ½ in. long. Falls . The slightly panduriform haft is veined with lilac or purple on a yellowish white ground and separated by a slight constriction from the obovate yellow blade, which is marked with an orange signal patch, 2½ in. long by ½-¾ in. wide at the broadest point of the blade. Standards , oblanceolate unguiculate, yellow with lilac or purple dots and veins on the haft, 2 in. long by ¼ in. wide. Styles , 1¼ in. long, becoming much broader in the upper part than at the base. Crests , large, narrowly triangular, l-¾ in. long, with coarsely serrate edge. Stigma , bilobed. Filaments , very short. Anthers , large, three times as long as the filaments, 1 in. long. Pollen , pale yellow or buff. Capsule , 4 in. long, trigonal with rounded angles and concave sides. The pale buff-coloured surface is finely ribbed and closely mottled with brown spots. Seeds , globose, brown, wrinkled, with a somewhat tapering neck. Observations. This curious Iris is a very shy flowerer in England. In its native home it flowers in April in rich marshy soil, which is subsequently baked hard by the sun during the summer. Soon after the flowering season the leaves wither completely away and only reappear when the autumn rains have begun. In 1905 there were still growing in Foster's garden at Shelford some of the original plants that General Grant Duff had given him in 1888. They had never once flowered nor have some roots that Foster gave me done any better. I believe, however, that some that he sent to the Cambridge Botanic Garden did flower there in a warm, dry position sheltered by the greenhouse walls. Judging from what I have seen in the south of France, I incline to believe that this Iris will only succeed in a very warm position in heavy soil, where it is kept quite dry, either naturally or artificially, for at least four months in summer. The soil should be rich in lime, and the plant would probably be best suited in that heavy red marl that is found among the rocks in the limestone regions on the Mediterranean coast. A curious point about this Iris is that seedlings by the end of their first season's growth have formed small bulb-like rootstocks, with reticulated coats almost, if not quite, indistinguishable from those of I. reticulata. For examples of the seeds and capsules of this Iris, I am indebted to Herr Georg Egger of Jaffa. In the present state of our knowledge it seems impossible to say whether or no we ought to consider as mere forms of I. Grant Duffii or as definite species three Irises which are either in commerce or else known to us from herbarium material, under the names of I. Aschersoni, I. melanosticta, I. masia. I. Aschersoni was mentioned by Foster and illustrated in The Garden, 1902, I. p. 288, and stated to come from near Adana in Cilicia. The authority for the name is unknown, but the plants probably reached Foster from Sintenis through Max Leichtlin, or from Herr Siebe of Mersina. At any rate the plant, as Foster knew it, is now in commerce and is certainly somewhat easier to flower than Grant Duffii itself'. The actual flowers are of a somewhat greener yellow, and the falls are curiously fringed with irregular linear dark black purple dots. In some specimens a few larger linear blotches appear on the centre of the blade. The fibrous remains of old leaves on the rootstocks are perhaps slightly less rigid than those of I. Grant Duffii; but there appears to be no other difference. In cultivation it requires the same treatment as I. Grant Duffii. I. me!anosticta was described by Bornmiiller in Gartenflora, 1907, p. 495, and was said to come from the Hauran on the east side of Jordan. The difference between it and /. Grant Duffii ( no mention was made of I. Aschersoni with its edging of small blackish dots) was stated to consist in the colour, which is a purer yellow and in the presence of four or five large linear black dots scattered irregularly over the blade of the falls. This plant is also in commerce now, and would seem to be at most a mere colour form of I. Grant Duffii. There is a specimen in the Kew Herbarium obtained from the Hauran by Egger. The last member of this group, which is also probably a mere colour form of I. Grant Duffii, comes from the neighbourhood of Suverek in the district of Diarbekr in Northern Mesopotamia. The first mention of it in botanical literature occurs in an article by Foster in The Garden, 1902, I. p. 288, as a purple-flowered relative of I. Grant Duffii named I. Masiae. No explanation was given of the name, nor was any full description of the plant known. In 1910 I found in the Kew Herbarium an unnamed Iris collected by Sintenis (no. 1219) (K) (B) (P), near Suverek in 1888, which I recognised as identical with the sketch and dried segments of I. Masiae, preserved in Foster's note-books. The explanation of the name became apparent, when Dr Stapf pointed out that Mons Masius was the ancient name of the Karadja Dagh, on the slopes of which Suverek is situated. Moreover, I have subsequently found that the specimens in the Vienna and Paris collections bear the inscription "I. Masia sp. nov. Stapf." No description of the plant was published by Dr Stapf when he gave the name in 1888, but Sintenis' specimens and Foster's notes supplied the material for the account given in the Gard. Chron. 1910, I. pp. 99 and 147. In this case, also, Foster probably obtained the plants that flowered with him from Sintenis through Max Leichtlin.
Amer. Col. 1933; 1939;
Detailed paper is in SIGNA 63 (Fall 1999), pp. 3233-3239: Cohen, Ofer. The last stand of the grant-duff's Iris. -- Ofer Cohen - 2017-02-18

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Synonyms;

Jaffa Iris; Grant Duffi Melanosticta; Grant Duff Iris Iris masia Fos.; Iris grantduffi Dykes.

'Grantduffi Melanosticta' (P. Barr, R. 1935, Hauran, Jordan). Y6; Bornmueller in Gartenflora 56: 495. 1907; Yellow flowers with four or five large linear black dots scattered irregularly over the blade of each fall. Amer. Col. 1933; 1939; Barr about 1906; AIS 1939 checklist gives it as a form of Iris grant-duffi; Treated as a separate species by Mathew in The Iris as Iris melanasticta Bornm. syn. Black spotted iris.

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-- BobPries - 2010-02-25