Oncos in Flower...

[Rafa]

what a last 48h plenty of terrific pictures!! Thank you very much to all for sharing these beauties.

Fantastic pictures of Iris grant-duffi, thank you Oron!.

Miriam, thank you for clarify this, in Spain it could be stopped if there are endemic animal species like Lynx pardinus, Aquila adalberti and even like this they bribe everybody to build what they want. But botany? maybe Cypripedium calceolus could stop something, and even this specie is not enough to stop a Snowboard installation projects.

This horrendous image is current illegal buildings 10m away from the Pinus sylvestris forest, where I collect many of the seeds I usually offer in this forum or I donate to SRGC. If you start to walk from this point, you can continue 40 km or more without encountering any other village. As you can see they also are illegal in the aesthetic sense as they are built without the architectural rules of the village.

Pat, it is obvious these hybrids are absolutely and extremely beautiful, but to me it is more important to maintain the natural plants, and this is why I only grow species for conservation purposes, sharing seeds through all the friends.

[Gerdk]

This horrendous image is actual illegal buildings 10m far from the Pinus sylvestris forrest, where I collect many of the seeds I usually offer in this forum or I donate to SRGC. If you start to walk in this point, you can continue 40 km or more without any other village. As you can seed they also are illegal in the aesthetic sense as they have build without the architectural rules of the village.

Rafa,
It seems nothing is able to stop profit seeking -  a sad story!
It seems there aren't such excesses here in Germany - nevertheless we are very good in covering our country with concrete in a more secrete manner.

Gerd

[Rafa]

Yes it is Gerd, I think you know very well our porblems visiting last year your dear "Pinar del Hierro" in Chiclana, Cádiz. This sight of Narcissus viridiflorus, mixed with all that trash is very representative of how powerful is the ignorance in our country (and the money if you offer it to the correct person).

I forgot to tell that in my picture this evil castle of illegality, is 500m away from an Aquila adalbertii nest, and there are only 240 couples on Earth.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

 

[Lesley Cox]

http://www.botanic.co.il/english/research/iris_lebanon.htm

Yes I grow this species and I hope soon to distribute seeds through all of you

Oh Rafa, will you marry me please?

[Lesley Cox]

I am always amazed at the many TV programmes that come our way, of Brits who go to foreign countries, such as Spain, Greece, Bulgaria and elsewhere and build houses/apartments, entirely for profit as if they had a right to invade someone else's country for their own benefit. They take over tracts of land by lakeside, the sea, in the mountains - anywhere there's a great view, and I doubt if any thought is given to who else suffers or what effects there are on flora and fauna.

As a human sub-species, I LOATHE property developers. We have them here too and that some have gone broke in recent months due to the downturn in the American economy as much as anything, gives me quite a lot of pleasure.

[fermi de Sousa]

I was about to rate this a 5 star topic when I noticed that facility is no longer available!When did that happen?
Anyway, this is definitely a 5 star rating!
cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

Should be all of 10 stars Fermi.

[Ian Y]

Folks, it seems that when some sections were started , the rating system wasn't activated.... willcheck with Fred tonight.

[Rafa]

http://www.botanic.co.il/english/research/iris_lebanon.htm

Yes I grow this species and I hope soon to distribute seeds through all of you

Oh Rafa, will you marry me please?

I am afraid I am not a good bargain!! I'm an artist and therefore very poor

[Lesley Cox]

But rich in seeds Rafa.

[arillady]

Miriam and Oron,
Are there any publications available in Israel that have good drawings or illustrations of the different oncocyclus and regelia species? Available for purchase?

[Miriam]

Pat,
I have never seen any publications with drawings or illustrations of the different oncocyclus and regelia species in Israel.

[arillady]

I do have photocopies of some illustrations from Flora of The Land of Israel Iconography by Naomi Feinbrun and Michael Zohary Hebrew university Drawn by Ruth Koppel 1949 - Iris atropurpurea, Iris mariae, Iris nazarena are covered.

Also Flora of Syria, Palestine, and Sinai From the Taurus to Ras Muhammad, and from the Mediterranean Sea to the Syrian Desert. by Rev. George E. Post, MA,MD,DDS. Syrian Protestant College, Beirut, Syria (I did not record the date of publication) It is an older looking book. pages 766 -770 cover Iris - the one only has text re Iris histrio, Iris palaestina, I. fumosa, I. cretensis, I pseudoacorus, I ochroleuca, I sari, I heylandiana, I lorteti, I. helanae, I haynei ("probably a variety of this or of the last"), I pallida, I germanica, I florentina, I tuberosa (last three are believed to be "escapes from cultivation")

I also have a photocopy of the some pages from Flora Palaestina Part Four - Plates Alismataceaw to Orchidaceae by Naomi Feinbrun-Dothan drawings by Ruth Koppel, Esther Huber, Levi Benyamini Jerusalem 1986 The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities - Iris pseudocorus L., Iris grant-duffii Baker, Iris hermona Dinsmore, Iris bismarckiana Regel (same drawing as I nararena in the first publication), Iris lortetii W. Barbey, Iris haynei Baker, Iris atrofusca Baker, Iris nigricans Dinsmore, Iris petrana Dinsmore, Iris atropurpurea Baker, Iris mariae W. Barbey, Iris histrio Reichenb. fil., Iris vartanii Foster, Iris palaestina(Baker) Boiss., Iris edomensis Sealy, Iris regis-uzziae Feinbr.
These are pretty good illustration but of the Flora Palaestina I do not have the text at all - must revisit the Adelaide Botanic Gardens Library to see if the text is there.

[Oron Peri]

Pat,

There isn't much more material available about the Iris in Israel. There are some works, and articles published, mainly about pollination and distribution of the species, I think The descriptions in Flora Palestina are the ones we base on but this is quite an old book and off course molecular exams weren't done at that time.

As I said in some cases it is hard to tell apart two close species.
It is possible to divide Oncos. in Israel to two groups with very similar characteristics and probably very close related genetically
The first group is  I. bismarckiana, I. hermona, I. lortetii and the lately discovered I. westii
The second group is I. atropurpurea, I. atrofusca, I. petrana, [I hieruchamensis] .


The relation between species in each group is not clear yet, some might be only subsp..
in some cases they grow in short distances one from the other and there are some transition forms like in the case of I hermona and I bismarckiana.

It seems that I haynei and I mariae are true species.

Than we have I . pseudocorus [very rare in the wild]
I mesopotamica on Mt. Hermon [probably the only wild population in Israel]
I grant-duffii
I vartanii
I histrio
I palaestina
I regis-uzziae

I edomensis grows in the area of Petra of in Jordan
I cretensis is I unguicularis subsp. cretensis [ not in Israel]
Iris samaria is probably I loretii subsp. samaria or var. samaria
Iris albicans, Iris germanica, I mesopotamica where probably introduced by the Muslims that used to plant then in their cemeteries.
Iris tuberosa [ Hermodactylus tuberosa growes much farther to the north, not in Israel]