![[SIGNA LOGO]](masthead.gif)
In SIGNA 38 I wrote in a state of some confusion about "Iris confusa, " a plant I had received from East Germany which had proved to be readily self fertilized and was giving seedlings which in turn were self fertile. There was no reason to believe at that time that I. confusa was not a good and fertile species, but other plants I had under that name did not set seed to their own pollen when I tried it, and indeed there seemed to be little confusa seed available anywhere. The East German plant, which I called ICS or `Isis,' really looked a lot different too from my imported English confusa.
But knowing no better I sent seed to the SIGNA exchange as confusa, and a few people have raised plants from it. Now I am certain that `Isis' is actually wattii, and I suspect it may be the plant Dr. Jack Ellis has, nicknamed `Nova' and now identified as I. wattii. It has a tall slender all-green cane, blooms with the other large crested evansias or a little later, and produces large nearly-all-white ruffled and fringed flowers which on my plants are always fewer and more top-bunched than those on the other evansia favorites. Its outstanding quality is its reliable response to its own pollen, forming large well-filled capsules.
The only other plant in the confusa-japonica-wattii group that seems to be as readily self-fertile is a light blue-violet form otherwise identical, which I raised from BIS seed labeled wattii. Dr. Ellis has plants of the same description, and I think the BIS seed donated by Kew Gardens may have originated with him.
There would be little point in crossing these two in my greenhouse `Isis' and `Biswat' -since both will set seed to almost any iris in the tender evansia group.
I can't help thinking after years of experimenting that wattii, which was for so long a question mark, is now established as the only "good" species in the lot, with neither japonica I can't help thinking after years of experimenting that wattii, which was for so long question mark, is now established as the only "good" species in the lot, with neither japonica nor confusa on record as producing identical offspring from their own pollen.
So my experience has been the opposite of Dykes', with confusa reverting to wattii in my records, and I hope anybody raising plants from my confusa seed will note the change.
The plant widely circulated as wattii for the last several decades can be traced I think Major L. Johnson's collection from Yunnan in I931, which though growing near to the site of the collection(s) of genuine wattii and perhaps even growing in a patch of wattii was almost certainly hybrid. Major Johnson picked an excellent plant, on the basis of its appearance, he tells us, and maybe for its uncommon good health, which it maintains
throughout very wide travels through many countries in two hemispheres. An Australian nursery sent me `Sylvia,' said to be Johnson's wattii, and I had more than one from the West Coast that certainly corresponded very closely Its cane is shorter and much thicker, with shorter internodes, and it has a purplish color at all times. When its bloomstalk rises it may overtop wattii's by a considerable amount, and its pale blue-violet flowers are produced more lavishly It has never been fertilized I believe by its own pollen.
But it is a remarkable parent just the same. For Jean Stevens it produced the hybrid `Queen's Grace' by pollen of I. tectorum. For Frances Love `Sylvia' produced `Honiana' by tectorum pollen. An unnamed Stevens plant called `Question Mark' by its new owner Revie Harvey has produced several interesting hybrids including a unique wide cross with I. milesii. I don't think it would be a rash conclusion that the pod parent in all these cases is the robust, persistent, versatile Johnson clone.
Although Johnson did not mention so far as I know finding seed on the irises from which he made his collection, it would not disprove its hybrid nature in any case, since all these big tender evansia hybrids so widespread in Western China sprang up, to begin with, near a species parent and then took off to complicate their kind over a quite a wide area.
A collection of undoubted wattii (seed only, I believe) was made by Frank Kingdon-Ward in the same year Major Johnson collected his plant, in Upper Burma where there is considerable similarity in flora and growing conditions to Yunnan. Apparently seedlings from Kingdon-Ward's 9357 did not perpetuate a race of irises comparable to Johnson's long-runner. Their species identity may have had something to do with this, as I and others have observed: `Isis' and `Biswat' tend to decline after fulfilling their role as parents.
With wattii nailed down it remains for some one of us to identify a true species japonica, which confers such desirable qualities on its hybrids, being smaller, hardier and more decorative, even, than the bigger tender evansias. And more confirmation of the species status of confusa would be a good thing. The Chengdu iris has been declared a species and alternatively a hybrid by growers who know much more about it than I do. I have only bloomed it once, after Jean Witt sent me a division. Last year I raised a crop of seedlings from an open-pollinated capsule of `Chengdu' sent to me by Colin Rigby. The seeds germinated at intervals, while a pot of `Ibis' (which is `Isis, selfed) seedlings kept beside it germinated all at once. The maturing `Chengdu' seedlings have some of them the look of the pod parent, but others are stockier. The fact remains that `Chengdu' (the collected plant) has a character of its own, and does not show obvious hybrid qualities.
As a sort of footnote I'll tell about `False Isis' which was shown by Barbara Schmeider on slides contributed by Darrel Probst at the Atlanta Convention. This was a seedling from `Isis' open-pollinated, which I kept because it was to my eye all wattii in appearance, though somewhat earlier-blooming and certainly more persistent. It refused its own pollen, however, over and over again through many attempts in 1990 and 1991, though it made capsules when fertilized by plants I received as `Darjeeling' and `Valley Blue'. It stays with me because it never seems to want to rot in the summer or abort its buds in early spring, unlike `Isis,' `Ibis' and `Biswat'. It pays to be a hybrid! Because it must be that, though its unknown pollen parent was certainly able to contribute a good many wattii genes.
Reprinted by permission from SIGNA Newsletter #49
| Home | Introduction | Member Info | Reading Room | Seed Exchange | Links | Photos | Mail |