>Maybe this will be in the article that Bob eventually sends us, but >I am hoping that someone will explain to the bulb novice who, while >growing or admiring various irises over the years, but never having >joined any of the Iris organizations, doesn't know what the >traditional standard divisions or classifications are and which >kinds of irises fall under those divisions. Dear Lee et al; I fear that Bob's presentation was needlessly confusing without presenting a base line. Let me try to simplify things and give you a start on the genus. I) There are 6 subgenera, but the ones you 'need' to know are. Iris(bearded species) Limniris -crested and beardless species Juno (or Scorpiris)- Juno/bulbous iris Then there's a more complex variety of bulbous groups including Dutch, English and Reticulata species. No further comments here. II) The subgenus Iris (bearded iris) has six further subdivisions. The important ones are: a) Section Iris- the traditional bearded iris. The American Iris Society has divided these into a number of horticultural divisions including Miniature dwarf, Standard dwarf, miniature tall, tall bearded etc. You can see this and details of the horticultural divisions at the AIS web site at: http://www.irises.org/classification.htm I stress these are essentially common names for artificial (Various bearded hybrid) groups. b) Section Oncocyclus - a mostly desert adapted group found in the middle east and slightly beyond. Important because of the large number of wild species and that they can be crossed to some degree with bearded iris species often with spectacular results. The Aril Society International http://www.arilsociety.org/ further defines a variety of hybrids based on hybrid history. collective hybrids of Oncocyclus x Section Iris are called Aril-breds. III) Not all these are equally well represented in the garden. Of the 250 or so species worlds wide: - about 1/4 are in the subgenus Juno and less than 10 are occasionally found in gardens. - about 1/4 are in the Section Oncocylcus and even fewer are found in gardens. Hybrids more common. - a bit over 1/4 are the beardless and crested species found in a variety of habits and includes some common garden plants and numerous peculiar rarities. - the rest of the species are scattered among rhizomatous and bulbous species in various taxonomic groups. Still with me? IV) Let's just start with bearded iris. The commonest garden iris are the tall bearded iris (over 27 inches tall)also known as German Iris, garden iris etc. Few species are grown and the garden varieties are multiple generation complex hybrids of essentially unknown species heritage. Some estimates suggest that almost all bearded species (around 30-35) can be implicated in these bearded hybrids. At the other extreme, the miniature dwarf (up to 8 inches in height) and standard dwarf (8-15 inches tall) horticultural classes are derived from a few wild short species including Iris pumila and a few others. Some of these species and their wild selections are grown by specialist gardeners. The kicker here is that you can cross a tall bearded iris with a miniature dwarf and get something in between that might be classified as a border or intermediate iris. Or not. These horticultural classes have little taxonomic coherence. V) The subgenus Limniris includes all the beardless iris species and hybrids common to gardens. Without boring you with details, there are 16 series including some that are fairly neat including: Louisiana iris, Siberian Iris. Pacific Coast Native iris, Spuria Iris, etc. Although these correspond to horticultural classes of the AIS, others do not such as Japanese iris ( These are all selection of a single species, I. ensata, of the series Laevigatae) etc. VI) The Species Iris Group of North America (SIGNA) http://www.signa.org/ is devoted to all species, their selections and some hybrids. This might be the single group of most interest to you as they consider a wide range of iris including rhizomatous and bulbous species or all sorts. VII) The British Iris Society http://www.britishirissociety.org.uk/ has an interesting web site and explains some of the further details if you click on "An A-Z of Irises" VII) FINALLY, since you asked... The Crested Iris (Subgenus Limniris, Section Lophiris) are identified by the lack of a beard on the falls and the replaced series of raised ridges or 'crests' sometimes accompanied by frills. It is a heterogeneous group and widely distributed consisting of the common (in CA) Iris japonica, confusa and wattii as well as the hardier Iris tectorum (Japanese Roof iris - neither originally from Japan or found on roofs!), Iris tenuis from a very small area of the Pacific NW, Iris cristata from the E. US and a variety of odds and ends from China, Japan and elsewhere. The crested iris include some real beauties, some easy, some tricky, some very rare. Although there are few that are obviously close, most of these are probably unrelated and just thrown into the section. If you have a specific group of irises you wonder about, I'd be glad to help you understand more. best Jim W. -- Dr. James W. Waddick 8871 NW Brostrom Rd. Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711 USA Ph. 816-746-1949 E-fax 419-781-8594 Zone 5 Record low -23F Summer 100F +