a non-flowering iris
Jane McGary (Sat, 26 Sep 2009 17:35:41 PDT)
Kathleen on the Oregon coast wrote
A few weeks ago, someone mentioned a non-flowering iris. I took the
time today to go measure the leaves on a clump of Iris I have that
has also never flowered for me. Would the person who wrote about it
contact me so we can compare notes?
I have had this plant for more than 10 years; it came with a label
indicating it was Iris tenax, but now that I know that species
better, I know the leaves are too long, and the leaf color is too gray.
In this mystery iris clump, Individual leaves are at their largest 4
mm wide and 60-62 cm long. The clump is 25 cm across, and the foliage
color is light greenish gray. In my yard, zone 8, it grows in sandy
silt, in a bed that gets no summer water and full sun.
Are the leaves 4 mm wide? Other than that, the foliage description
reminds me of Iris munzii, a member of the same section (Pacific
Coast irises) but from California. It has grayish leaves that are
broad for a PCI (probably up to 4 cm) and quite long and rather
erect. I grew it for a while (until it froze to death -- it has the
reputation of being the most tender of the section) and it never
flowered here in the Oregon Cascade foothills. The flowers are
supposed to be a beautiful shade of blue, and this species has been
widely used in breeding Pacific Coast iris hybrids. Perhaps
Kathleen's plant is a hybrid seedling from a garden where I. tenax
was growing with this species or with hybrids related to it. I don't
know why it would survive more than 10 years without flowering,
unless it needs more heat to initiate flowering -- it won't get much
where Kathleen lives.
The only irises I know of that would actually have leaves only 4 mm
wide and that long are I. filifolia and I. tingitana, which come from
the western Mediterranean, but they are bulbous and don't really form
"clumps" like the rhizomatous to fibrous-rooted PCIs do. I grow these
in the bulb frame, where they have flowered.
Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA