■ (SPEC) Iris purdyi Eastwood

1897, Botanical author

Iris purdyi Eastwood ( Alice Eastwood, 1897, Sonoma and Mendocino County, California); Section Limniris, Series Californicae. Height 8-14" (20-35 cm); Color Code-Y4L; Flowers cream or white often tinged with lavender, and veined and spotted with purple-pink on falls.

See below:

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

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References:

Eastwood in Pro. Calif. Acad. Sc. 3rd Ser. 1: 78, tab. VII fig. 2, 1897 offers the following "Rootstocks slender, scarcely thicker than the fleshy roots; leaves dark green or somewhat glaucous, glabrous, erect or laxly spreading, surpassing the scapes, 6-7 mm. wide, 2-4 dm. Long, with long, acuminate apex and margins membranous and shortly ciliate, scapes 15-20 cm. Long, slightly flattened; bracts generally overlapping, inflated, glaucous, striate, tinged with rose-color, acuminate; spathes usually 2-flowered, similar to the bracts, but more inflated and more rosy, especially on the margins; pedicels 1 cm. Long, about equaling the tube of the perianth; perianth with throat slightly dilated above the junction of the style; outer segments oblong, 7 cm. Long, 2 cm. Wide, rich cream-color, beautifully marked with fine lines of yellow on the claw, and with dotted veins of purple on the spreading blades; inner segments cream-color, somewhat shorter than the outer, widely spreading, linear-oblong, with margins strongly sinuate; stamens with filaments 5 mm. long, 2 mm. broad, narrowing abruptly at the insertion of the anthers; anthers 15-18 mm. long, 3 mm. wide, the polliniferous margins less than 1 mm. wide, edged on each side with purple; style slender, 12-15 mm. long, stigmas about 4 cm. Long, including crests, which are 1 ½ cm. Long, laciniate on the outer edge, tinted with pale rose-color to the ridge connecting the lobes of the stigma; stigma scal truncate, slightly undulate; capsules oblong, tapering equally at both extremities, valves about 12 mm. wide and 3 cm. Long. This elegant Iris is the species common in the Redwood region of Mendocino County, around Ukiah. It has heretofore been included under I. douglasiana, which it resembles in its narrow, red-based laxly spreading leaves, its cream-colored flowers, and its habitat. I. douglasiana has always been considered an extremely variable species and includes a great number of forms, some of which may prove, as this had done, when carefully studied and compared, to be distinct species.. Iris purdyi differs from other Californian species of Iris in the peculiar bract-clothed, flowering stems. From I. douglasiana it differs in having larger flowers, leaves lighter gree, less distinctly nerved, somewhat stiffer, and sometimes glaucous. The stigma scale is truncate instead of triangular-acuminate. The stamens are much broader, the capsule shorter, broader, and more uniform at each extremity. The flowers are fewer in the spathes, less exserted, and on shorter pedicels that elongate but little in age. It forms clumps similar to I. douglasiana, but not so widely spreading." "It is most fitting to name this species in honor of Carl Purdy of Ukiah, since he first detected its identity as a species entirely distinct from I. douglasiana and called attention to its peculiar characteristics."
Gartenflora, t. 1222 (1886) under the name Iris Douglasiana
Van T. 1916; Ainsley 1928; Starker 1938;
Purdy in The Garden, Jan 1st, 1898
Dykes The Genus Iris tab. 11. 1913, Description. Rootstock , very thin and wiry and producing very few, but thick, roots. Leaves , almost erect, thick, at first of a pale yellowish green, but becoming deep green when fully developed, 1/3-1/2 by 12 in. Stem , 4-6 in., entirely covered with short, inflated, bract-like leaves. Spathe valves , 1½-2 in. long, the outer slightly keeled, green, inflated. Pedicel , ¼ in. in second flower, none in first; growing eventually to ¾ and ¼ inch. Ovary , ¾ in., tapering at either end, trigonal, with concave sides and a groove down each corner. Tube , 1¼-1½ in., yellowish green. Falls . The broadly lanceolate blade is equal in length to the wide wedge-shaped haft. The colour is a pale straw yellow veined conspicuously with brown purple. Standards , lanceolate, spreading, not erect, with wavy edges; pale straw yellow very faintly veined with brown purple, slightly shorter than the falls. Styles , narrow, short, keeled. Crests , very large, triangular. Stigma , entire, not pointed as in I. bracteata. Filaments , broad at the base and tapering upwards, yellow, ciliate at the edges. Anthers , longer than the filaments, the sacs being well separated, pale mauve with deep purple edges. Pollen , pale yellow. Capsule , 1 in. long, much rounded, trigonal, narrowing abruptly at either end, at the top to a short beak, which consists of the remnant of the tube. Seeds , thick D-shaped or irregularly cubical, light brown or buff. Observations. This comparatively rare Iris is in some ways very similar to I. bracteata, from which, however, it is sharply distinguished by very obvious differences. The foliage of both consists of scanty, tough dark green leaves, those of I. bracteata being both longer and broader and less numerous than those of I. Purdyi. The flowers of both are yellow, those of I. bracteata being deeper in shade, but both have the curiously arranged brown crimson veins, which can be seen in I. Purdyi (Plate XI). The most obvious difference, especially when dealing with herbarium specimens, lies in the fact that the perianth tube of I. Purdyi is linear and over an inch long, while that of I. bracteata is funnel-shaped and less than half an inch long. A less noticeable but yet reliable point of difference is to be found in the stigmas. That of I. bracteata is distinctly tongue-shaped, whereas that of I. Purdyi is truncate, so that it ends in a straight, horizontal line. Cultivation does not appear to be difficult when once the plant is established, but it is just as exacting as all the other Californian Irises with regard to the time at which it can be moved with success. This operation should always be carried out when growth is active in spring or early summer. With regard to soil, lime must be avoided and Purdy himself says' that it does best in a heavy soil in California. In England it certainly succeeds in well-nourished sand, but my experience of its behaviour in this soil during the drought of 1911 seemed to show that a more retentive soil would suit it better. Seed is set in abundance, if the flowers are artificially pollinated, and germinates readily.

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Synonyms

Iris douglasiana Regal. ----

Variations

no registered variations ----

Hybrids

no registered hybrids ----

Distribution and Cultivation

Distribution: The distribution of the species gives clues as to its cultural requirements, although plants in cultivation can often tolerate a wider range of variables: The species is found in the following region: Bonap's North American Plant Atlas shows the following map reproduced by permission of Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2015. Taxonomic Data Center. (http://www.bonap.net/tdc). Chapel Hill, N.C. [maps generated from Kartesz, J.T. 2015. Floristic Synthesis of North America, Version 1.0. Biota of North America Program (BONAP). (in press)]
Cultivation;

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-- BobPries - 2010-02-11