Oncos 2009

[Paul T]

Hendrick,

Beautiful picture.  You can see how satiny the petals are.  I can only hope my seedling of Iris jordana looks as good as that if/when it flowers in the future.

[Hans A.]

Hendrik, I agree completly with Miriam  (even if I had to google first where Umm Qais is ) - Iris atrofusca is similar but occurs in a different habitat (desert) much more in the south (sometimes both are lumped together), same for Iris nigricans and Iris petrana.
Really beautiful plant!

[Lesley Cox]

Truly magnificent and wonderful for us to see an onco out of season for both northerners and southerners.

[Hendrik Van Bogaert]

It is Iris haynei var.jordana or in its other name Iris jordana.
It grows also in Israel in the other side of the border south east of the Kinnereth.

Thank you all for your help.
Now what more background information.
When I visited the archaeological site of Umm Qais in Jordan,  I saw in the restroom big clumps of Iris jordana (thank you Myriam for the right name!); the plants were collected by the local people.
Plants were not dug out, but really pulled out of the soil practically without roots.
In the first picture you can see me inspecting the roots! Luckily were the local people very friendly and brought me to the site were they have collected the iris.
Only 5 plants were left, all the others were pulled out! So pity!!!  
The picture I send you early was one of the most beautiful remaining plants.
I have tried to explain them that what they are doing was wrong and that they must respect their native plants. I hope they understand it and think about it. Conservation = education!

[arillady]

How utterly wasteful and shocking.

[BULBISSIME]

Crasy !!
What a pity !!!  

[Rafa]

I thought this species was protected in Jordan, and like in Israel with their Royal Iris, also they were very aware of its value...
Well Hendrik, you told me this some time ago but seeing this pathetic restroom now I can imagine very well your first reaction....

[Paul T]

Dreadful!!    I am guessing that they just threw them out when they finished flowering as well?

[Hans A.]

Thanks for this pictures even it is a very sad sight.

As flowering fans die (whether they produce seeds or not) – and I hope this were the only ones which were removed, maybe the effects are not so disastrous as it looks like and the left  plants/rhizomes may recuperate - if this practice is not yearly repeated.  

[Hendrik Van Bogaert]

Of course everybody finds this very pity! Maybe we need to understand why such things happen...

Jordan people are really poor. Words like “conservation” and “respect for nature” are not  important in their struggle for live. The country is maybe for 90 % bare, a rocky desert.
Population increase and the pressure on nature is huge. Except some nature reserves as Dana, Ajlun, … the rest of the irises are obliged to live between roads, houses and fields.
Herewith a picture of a typical landscape of Jordan where irises have to grow. In such place I found Iris nigricans in the surrounding of Al-Karak, growing under the pines (unfortunately they were not in flower).

Jordan people know that the Iris nigricans is their national flower and they love them very much. It’s very easy to talk about conservation if you live in the West but if you are poor and not well developed, I can understand that you pick such beautiful flowers to bring some colour in your live.
 
Do you not agree with me that Oncocyclus are the victims of their own eternal beauty?

[Paul T]

Hendrick,

I suppose to me, if you're picking something beautiful you don't just rip it out of the ground, but rather break it off.  That way it is there next year.  I'm not disturbed by them picking their flowers to bring colour.... I do the same from my garden..... but it is the pulling them out so that they aren't there next year that I think is the shock that everyone has expressed.  A good way to have no colour the next year. 

[Hendrik Van Bogaert]

After the philosophical part now a few pictures of the region where Iris petrana grows.

It is almost a fairytale that I found these non flowering patches nearby Petra. Probably they found me...

Enjoy!

[Paul T]

Heendrick,

If you took the fence area out of the first picture it almost looks like an alien landscape.  A very desolate appearance.  Congratulations on finding them.

[Lesley Cox]

Thank you Hendrik for these very telling pictures. You are right that the oncos are the victims of their own beauty and while we, now, in the west readily condemn the Jordanians for pulling their plants, it should be remembered that we in the west made the plants desirable in the first place and were responsible - still are - for the removal and destruction of perhaps millions of plants of Iris and countless others. The whole concept of conservation is a relatively recent one and we need to remember that comparatively rich societies are well able to set aside land and educate their citizenry to preseve and conserve. We shouldn't blame the poorer peoples for taking advantage of what they have, no matter how much we may deplore their practices.

[Lesley Cox]

Two other things strike me from your pictures Hendrik. The foliage of the oncos is superbly healthy. No sign of fungal lesion or streaks such as are almost always on cultivated plants, and looking at the trees lining that bleak road, I think there must be some mighty winds sweep across the plain there. Ar the tree pines?