(TB) 'Sivas' aka 'Siwas'

1884, Foster

'Sivas' (Sir Michael Foster, 1884) Gardeners' Chronicle givesI. GERMANICA VAR. SIWAS.

Rhizome, foliage, and inflorescence as in typical I. Germanica, save that the leaves are somewhat iiarro^ver and less stout, and their green has a more yellowish hue. « , , . , The spathe-valves, as in the type, are flushed with purple, and scarious in the upper half at flowering^ time. Tlie falls are cuneate, spathulate, and the standards ovate, the styles short and broad, with sharp] V denticulate crests. Ovary bright green, trigonal, with a slight ridge on each side. Tube purple. The lamina of the fall is a deep dark blue-purple indigo-purple, I might venture to call it. The groundwork of the claw of the fall is a light blue-purple, the deeper veins on which are consequently much less conspicuous than in the type where the groundwork is white. Beard whiter than in type, the hairs being only slightly tipped with yellow.

Standards dark blue-purple, containing very little red- almost an Oxford-blue. Ripe capsule trigonal, with sharp edges, very short, being not much longer than wide.

The several varieties of I. germanica (I mean, of course, the true I. germanica, not the " German Irises" of the trade) vary a good deal in the form of both perianth segments ; and I should not venture to give this Iris a distinct varietal name, simply because the shape of its segments (for instance, the shortness of the standards) differs from that of the type, The coloration, however, taken together with the very marked characters of the ripe capsule justify, in my opinion, a distinct varietal name. Dried specimens have probably been labelled simply Iris germanica.

The roots came to me mixed with the roots of I, Biliotti, just described, as kindly obtained for me by Mr. Biliotti, and probably grew at or near the same place.

I have elsewhere urged the desirability of indicating varieties of a species differing slightly only from the type by making use of simple geographical names not turned into Latin. I have, therefore, called the varietv bv the name Siwas from the name of the province in which it was found. It is a handsome plant. M, Foster,

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-- BobPries - 2011-03-07