Bearded Iris for id please

[Lesley Cox]

It's not 'Starshine' Chris which I don't grow now but it used to be a favourite at one time. Its falls are quite widely flaring and there is a distinct blue cast, a soft wash, if you like, below the beards.

[Lesley Cox]

I've googled 'Starshine' and can't see a picture but oddly, I always knew it as 'Starshine,' as you've seen it Chris, but Google only gives 'Star Shine' so maybe that's a ref for a different TB.

[ChrisB]

Thanks Lesley.  The picture in Clare Austin's first Iris book looks a bit like it so I'll just call it aff. Starshine, then at least people can get an idea of what colour it is in flower.  It is really beautiful.  I've no idea how I came by it either, its not in my list, but I do sometimes forget to put new acquisitions in it... mea culpa.  The search continues.  If Ms Austin ever comes back to give us another talk, I'll certainly take a photo in case she can help.  This one doesn't have any frilly edges to the falls at all.

[Michael J Campbell]

ID please.
 I bought this in the Market on Saturday, can someone ID it please as Iris is not one of my strong points.
It is in a 2ltr pot and the foliage app 15cm high. Looks like Iris attica purple form ?.

[Lesley Cox]

Michael, I think it is more likely to be a cultivar (bred iris) than a species or subspecies of a species. I'm particularly looking at the frilliness of its edges and even more, of the large velvety blade to the falls, edged lighter. It has a cultivar look to it. I had one called 'Mitternacht' to which it is similar but there are so many to choose from. Maybe someone will be able to give it a name. It's lovely, whatever it is.

[ChrisB]

Looks like a dwarf, I'll take a look in my books see if I can spot anything like it.

[Michael J Campbell]

 Gerhard Raschun thinks it is Iris bicapitata, and having looked it up I think he is correct, so I will go with that unless someone comes with a better idea.

Thanks for your help.

Cheers.

[David Nicholson]

Does this help Michael?

http://www.signa.org/index.pl?Display+Iris-bicapitata+2

[Michael J Campbell]

Thanks David, but it is difficult because of the dark blue/purple colour. None of the pictures show up the correct colour, it is a very deep blue with a purple throat, no yellow in the throat.

[PeterT]

Looks a bit like Iris aphylla, if it has branching next year perhaps you could call it that... The name Iris benacencis comes to mind but I can't find the  Iris society species group newsletter where it was written up a couple of years ago.

[PeterT]

....because of the whitish beard and anthers / pollen

[Michael J Campbell]

I am normally easily confused but the Bearded Iris add to the confusion big time.

[PeterT]

Don't you see Michael - the bearded Iris were very bad students and refused to read the books, or else they just don't have the same rules we think that they should have.   

[Lesley Cox]

I don't think it is bicapitata, especially if those tucked-under falls are typical and the beard is different too. I'd still go for a min. dwarf bearded cultivar. You said you bought it at a market Michael. Can you go back to the seller and enquire? How likely is it that the seller would grow bicapitata, which is not common at all?

[Gerhard Raschun]

Iris bicapitata is highly variable, here, judging by the color would be the wrong way. It is very typical of the kind that are almost two flowers open at once. I doubt Iris aphylla blood, as Peter suggest, because it lacks the typical branching of the inflorescence. Last year I bought a similar plant by a Hungarian Iris specialists, which was labeled as Iris italica. Probably it is a valid name ! After two flowers were open at the same time, I immediately thought of Iris capitata. My suspicion was correct, and the name was only a synonym for Iris bicapitata.

 Iris bicapitata is very vigorous and hardy here in zone 6b. It spreads so well in collections, but unfortunately it is mainly propagated vegetatively, so only a few clones are in circulation. The most beautiful clone is a deep blue clone, which you will find at Sigma database too, it is distributed by an Italien grower, and PC has sold this clone too some years ago. In my collection there is a pale clone , nearly white, and Tony has another light blue clone, which he has labelled as spec. ex Gargano.

 But there always remains the possibility that there hybridogenes lines ....