[John]

Yes it does though it is more likely the one off rather than a population. In Greece I have found various colour forms especially on Crete where there have been blue, purple and even green.

[Alisdair]

By the way, this plant is now classified as Iris tuberosa (so eventually I'll move this to the Iris thread)....

[ezeiza]

That yellow one is very attractive. Imagine if it could be preserved from seed.....

[Cali]

It is very attractive, and without the creepy quality (fascinating though it is) of the normal one. I was delighted to find it on my own land. Now I'll mark it for next year.... Thank you John and Alisdair--I'll note the new name. It looks like an Iris so why shouldn't it be one?

[fragman]

At the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens we have had tremendous success with Iris tuberosa. It fills every bucket with dozens of new bulbs in just two years. It also formed nice clumps in the grounds. See also the fruit picture.

[fragman]

Iris haynei is in peak blooming just now in Mt Gilboa. Our dog is again a good scale.

[Alisdair]

Do you change Lily's "necklace" depending on the colour of the flowers you're expecting to see?

[fragman]

offcourse we do  

[Cali]

All over Corfu right now two colours (purple bicolour and white) of medium-tall bearded Iris are flowering, mostly in the wild. There are huge clumps in olive orchards and roadsides as well as in unwatered parts of gardens. It is assumed that they were brought over (perhaps by the British in the 19th century) from elsewhere and have naturalised. It is one of the emblematic flowers of the island and a personal favourite of mine yet we know very little about it.

[Cali]

I see that my previous post was not phrased as a question though in fact it is one. I'd really like to know more about these Irises. Can one of the usual suspects point me in that direction, please?

[Hilary]

Hi,
I just looked up Irises in Jaqueline Trywhitt's book. She says they grow wild in many parts of Attika, that  they are said to be  naturalised from elsewhere, and that their place of origin in unknown.
That does not answer your question as to where they came from.
However, since I love these flowers, I thought I would tell you that on the way to Sparta, Lakonia, there is a village with white irises flooding down a hill and there are many white ones growing in the grounds of Mystra, the ruined Byzantine town on Taygetus.

[Hilary]

Found some photos.
One from Mystra and two from Spain
Any one interested can read about the Quinta de los Molinos park in Madid in a past MGS journal

[Hilary]

Me again, didn't mange to post the white one from Mystra

[JTh]

Cali, Polunin also writes that the origine of I. germanica is unknown, but that it is naturalized in waste places. In Flowers of Greece, (Lafranchis & Sfikas), it is written that there are 11 native Iris species in Greece, and I.germanica is among the listed 11, but also that both this and the bluish-white var. florentina are found all over Greece and they are widely cultivated, the same for the pure white I. albicans.
Several years ago I found lots of them in a ditch between a field and the road in Halkidiki, both blue and white ones, the next year they were all gone and I haven’t seen them since.

[Cali]

Thank you all. I guess there is no answer.... yet.  For some reason, the impression I had got (long ago so I don't remember my source) was the of the german Irises only the dwarfs (dwarves) were native to Greece. The white ones from Mystra look very similar to ours. The bicolour purples from Spain are quite different from ours. Much less contrast. Also, the ones I brought over from Spain and planted here flower a good three weeks later than the locals, though in Spain they flower at the same time as ours.  Go figure!