Iris - where does it sit?
James Waddick (Sat, 30 Apr 2011 11:09:59 PDT)

Dear Andrew,
It can be confusing. The beardless iris are a subgenus of the
genus Iris. There are 16 series including Spuria, Louisiana, Pacific
Coast etc. Some of these series have as few as one species, others
are bigger.

You can get an idea of where these series fit in the big
picture by looking up this PBS page

http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/….

Ignore page 1, but look at P. 2 and following

Your photo does look like 'Black Gamecock', an oldie, but
goodie (Registered by Chowning in 1980). Parentage is unknown, but
it reminds me of a fulva x giganticoerulea hybrid.

Contray to the 'title' "Louisiana" iris, these are native
from Missouri to the Carolinas, Texas to Florida and are very hardy.
Although they grow best with the rhizome in water, they are dry
summer tolerant once established. They also include the best red
irises in the whole genus.

Finally check out the Society for Louisiana Iris at
http://www.louisianas.org/

Great irises. Best Jim W.
--
Dr. James W. Waddick
8871 NW Brostrom Rd.
Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711
USA
Ph. 816-746-1949
Zone 5 Record low -23F
Summer 100F +