Iran 2008

[art600]

Here are just a few additional shots taken by John Ingham.
1.  They get everywhere
2.  When you are desparate for a cup of tea, who cares about Health and Safety
3.  In the Islamic Republic of Iran, the last thing you would expect to see would be Pink Pigs as toys
4.  A trifle overloaded I would suggest
5.  This shows how really small the Iris meda were
6.  I said taking the Scilla khorasanica was dangerous
7.  Site of the first Iris acutiloba
8.  The granddaddy of all tortoise
9.  A Crocus biflorus ssp. ?
10. A splendid dark Allium

[art600]

A few more

1.  Aristolochea ?bottiae
2.  Fritillaria crassifolia kurdica
3.  Fritillaria crassifolia kurdica
4.  ? Golden eagle
5.  Unknown bird
6.  Unknown bird
7.  Gentiana ?olivieri

[Anthony Darby]

Could the bird be a male black-eared wheatear (Oenanthe hispanica)?

[Maggi Young]

Arthur, will you thank John Ingham for allowing you to share these photos with us?


I must say I had thought the Iris meda would be a bit bigger than that! 
I do like Aristolochias..... such improbable shapes 

[art600]

Arthur, will you thank John Ingham for allowing you to share these photos with us?


I must say I had thought the Iris meda would be a bit bigger than that! 
I do like Aristolochias..... such improbable shapes 

Maggi
In a normal season, the Iris meda would be approx 10 inches tall.
I will tell John his pictures are being admired on the Forum.

[Lesley Cox]

There are two species of tortoise in Iran: Testudo graeca and Agrionemys horsfieldi. The former is recognised by a spur on the thigh.

I have a spur on my left heel at the moment. Bl....y painful!

[Paul T]

Arhtur,

Thank you So much for emailing me re this topic.  I hadn't yet caught up on it since my month away from the SRGC and it was definitely WELL worth seeing.  Oh those Irises!!  I have fallen seriously in lust (even more if that is possible) with Iris acutiloba, then there's Iris meda, some of those wonderful orange or pink Frits etc.  WOW!!!!!!!!!

Amazing topic.  Thanks to all who have posted or contributed pics!!!!!!!!!

[biodiversite]

We need "Bio" from France, the Tortoise expert to help with the other question! I will PM her!

Thanks Maggy for the mp (but I'm a man  ).
The Testudo pressented from Iran is a Testudo ibera sensu lato, a large group of spur tortoises from Romania to Iran. Subspecies are very difficult to identify, moreover on babies.
The tortoises from SW Turkey are Testudo ibera too, but from a different subspecies : Testudo antalyensis or the more common Testudo racovitzai.
The tortoise from Greece is a Testudo marginata  .

[Anthony Darby]

Is it official that Testudo ibera is no longer a subspecies of graeca?

[Maggi Young]

We need "Bio" from France, the Tortoise expert to help with the other question! I will PM her!


Thanks Maggy for the mp (but I'm a man    ).

AARRGH! So Sorry, Bio!     Mr Bio, that is!! 

[Paul T]

It's always the difficulty when we have no name in the signature...... although sometimes seeing the name doesn't help in that regard anyway. 

I originally had difficulties with the gentleman running a seedex...... I knew someone here in Canberra by the same name who is of the female persuasion.  They have an unusual name that I've never come across except for these two individuals.  For quite a while I used to refer to the seedex person as she or her, until I got corrected by someone.  I never wrote it again, but I still had it in my head every time I ran across his name. 

[Maggi Young]

It's always the difficulty when we have no name in the signature...... although sometimes seeing the name doesn't help in that regard anyway. 

Indeed, Paul! "Bio" declined to give a more "usual" name when he joined the forum and I do regret that this is the case for quite a few Forumists........if one is terribly shy, why not at least choose a pseudonym which gives us poor souls a clue? 

So, all you unamed folks out there, why not at least give us a hint, along with where you garden, in the signature line, shown in posts/ 

[biodiversite]

Is it official that Testudo ibera is no longer a subspecies of graeca?

Tortoise nomenclature evolves quickly : T. ibera was considered as a subspecies of graeca, but actually there are probably two parallele lineage, with a common ancestor : for graeca, evolution in Maghreb, for ibera, evolution in Asia Minor. Nowadays, the true ibera is located only in a small region of the north of Turkey, and the quite totality of all "iberas" in captivity are in fact Testudo racovitsai, from center Turkey and Balkans (Romania, Greece).
Iranian subspecies are Testudo perses and Testudo buxtonii but I just have a short description for each of them : they are unknown in captivity in France.

[biodiversite]

It's always the difficulty when we have no name in the signature...... although sometimes seeing the name doesn't help in that regard anyway. 

Indeed, Paul! "Bio" declined to give a more "usual" name when he joined the forum and I do regret that this is the case for quite a few Forumists........if one is terribly shy, why not at least choose a pseudonym which gives us poor souls a clue? 

So, all you unamed folks out there, why not at least give us a hint, along with where you garden, in the signature line, shown in posts/ 

There is absolutely no problem Mag : I am responsible as I have a "feminine" pseudo in France too. A little story : once upon a time, a french film obtained an Oscar. The two main players were Stephane Audran and Jean Rochefort : Stephane Audran received the Oscar first male role, but she is a woman (but it's true that Stephane is exceptionnaly a feminine name), and Jean Rochefort the Oscar first female role (there, Jean is always for men in french  ).

[Anthony Darby]

It's always the difficulty when we have no name in the signature...... although sometimes seeing the name doesn't help in that regard anyway. 

Indeed, Paul! "Bio" declined to give a more "usual" name when he joined the forum and I do regret that this is the case for quite a few Forumists........if one is terribly shy, why not at least choose a pseudonym which gives us poor souls a clue? 

So, all you unamed folks out there, why not at least give us a hint, along with where you garden, in the signature line, shown in posts/ 

....................and there was me thinking the required answer on these forms where the question is "sex?" was "yes".