Oncocyclus Iris 2014

[Jupiter]

Beautiful irises Pat. I'm freaking out over the seedlist on the ASI webpage, trying to decide what I ought to start with considering I know very little about these Irises as yet.

[arillady]

The named cultivar crosses would be harder to get into Oz. Some of the atropurpurea, haynei, urmiensis or stolonifera would be the easiest to get in and to try to germinate and grow Jamus.

[Otto Fauser]

Thanks to Peter Gras ,who embryo cultured those seeds of I. sofarana  ssp. kasruwana from Archibald ( ex Wallis collection in Lebanon ) I can enjoy this bloom today . I think Kew regards it as a synonym of I. susiana  . I am lucky to have one of the original copies of Curtis's Bot. Mag. from 1788 with handcoloured copper plates , so here is the page .

[Chris Johnson]

Lovely Otto, both the painting and your Iris.

Chris

[Jupiter]

Absolutely magnificent Otto. These irises are one of the natural wonders of the plant world, it's a credit to you that you have one flowering there, especially considering the less than conducive climatic conditions where you are. I wish i lived closer to you, I'd rush over with my camera and force it to pose for me.

[Tasmanian Taffy]

 Otto a stunning Iris.

[penstemon]

Beautiful.
I assume this is 0597950. One seed of this collection germinated here last week. (I do things the hard way.)

Bob

[arillady]

Wow Otto it looks to be very well grown. Lucky you to have both.  PS I have a bud on Iris auranitica (ex embryo cultured by dear kind PeterG) - so much later than the rest which have finished.

[penstemon]

Here is another seedling of JJA 600.600 (Iris urumiensis) emerging, after I learned that I was not correctly following the instructions for forced germination. (Thanks, Peter.)
I might point out that the "pointed end" of the seed, in some species, eg (I. barnumae) is the chalazal end, and if this is cut, nothing will ever happen. The micropylar end, ie with the aril, is the end that needs to be cut, into the endosperm and slicing off a tiny bit of the embryo itself. I didn't realize that it's the embryo itself that needs to be cut, and not just the endosperm.
So now I have a number of seeds germinating from Archibald collections. I'm telling them how much they'll like my garden, which I hope is encouraging to them. 

[BULBISSIME]

Well done Pat ! You jade a successful season !
I also think your Iris lineolata is not a pure species :-)

[penstemon]

About the picture of Iris urumiensis I posted. Before I lose whatever credibility I may have had in the past, I should note that this is the extremely rare variety struthionoides (ie, ostrich-like), which emerges root first.
In the turf industry here in the U.S. they have a basic instruction for people laying turf, "Green side up", which holds for irises too. The remainder of the seedlings are germinating in the normal manner.

[Peterwg]

Don't worry about your credibility, the option to grow upside down seems widespread in aril iris.    I grow quite a few from seed using embryo culture, carefully orienting the embryos root end down.   It makes no difference, about five percent turn over and grow the shoots downwards.   It doesn't seem to matter, in fact, they grow at least as well as those that grow the conventional way.   Eventually most see the error of their ways, but there are a lot that only get their leaves out of agar when planted out.    I used to open the tubes and reseat the plantlets in the "proper" orientation, but this doesn't really improve survival, so these days I just let them get on with it.   Hence the attached picture!
Still, glad to see the germination!

[penstemon]

Thanks, though I believe I lost all credibility the first time I posted in the Galanthus section....
But never mind that. I was given a small amount of old seed to try to germinate, not realizing it came with instructions. The plants themselves grow quite readily in my climate.
Here is JCA 590.801, Iris lycotis, emerging green side up.

Agar culture looks interesting, and worthwhile, though of course one has to have seeds in the first place.

[penstemon]

Example of what happens when you follow the instructions.... These are JCA 590.801 and 589.605.

(The irises will probably all die now that I posted a picture of them.)

[Jupiter]

Can someone please point me to "the instructions"? I have some seed of I. stolonifera I'd like to sow soon. Seeing all these pictures of healthy and successful germinations is making me impatient.