ACW 1266 was collected in 1966 by S. Albury, M. Cheese, and J. Watson. The original field notes of the ACW expedition to Turkey in 1966 state:
- Col 24/5/66
- Exp reference no 1266
- Height 4 inches
- Of common distribution at 1800m.
- Found in high grass pasturage at base of rocky outcrops on north slopes in the province or Siirt in S E Turkey.
Amazingly it turns out ACW 1266 is the Retic we know as Halkis. In the 1990s Norman Stevens collected some bulbs in the Halkis mountains east and a touch south of Lake Van (Green on map below). A Dutch bulb grower applied for Plant Breeder Rights under the name Halkis, which were granted in 2007. Halkis Daği is about 60km outside of Siirt Province, in Batman Province.
The question is: is Halkis a form of Iris
sophenensis or is it a unique species on it's own? Per Tony Hall, its chromosome count is 2n=18.
The photos below show how similar ACW 1266 is to Halkis. Note: in both cases the fall blotch starts off quite dark when the flowers open
ACW 1266
Halkis Note: the two flowers at the bottom on either side are just opening and have dark Fall blotches
(At the bottom left is a Hop Pass form of Iris
sophenensis)
ACW 1266
Halkis
