Moraea tricolor - color forms or hybrids?

Michael Mace michaelcmace@gmail.com
Tue, 18 Feb 2014 20:42:25 PST
Last year I mentioned on the list that I'd seen a couple of unusual color
forms of Moraea tricolor. The flowers showed up in a pot of Moraea tricolor
seedlings that were given to me by Bob Werra, the dean of Moraea growers in
the US (thanks, Bob!). The corms had not yet bloomed for Bob, so when they
came up in purple and orange rather than the usual pink, Bob and I were both
surprised. This year several more of them have bloomed, with colors ranging
from yellow-orange to a kind of a pale mauve.

 


Bob thought they might be accidental hybrids, and I'm still investigating
that possibility. But they don't look like my other hybrids. Somebody else
suggested they might be M. papilionacea, but I grow those as well, and the
flower shapes are quite different. Other than the color, these plants look
exactly like plants of M. tricolor.

 

Goldblatt's book says M. tricolor can rarely be found in yellow and purple,
so maybe these are just natural color forms. If any of the Moraea experts
out there have any ideas, please speak up.

 

I am trying to build up my stock of these plants so I can share them. Bob
gets first dibs, but after that I hope to share these on the BX. It'll take
several years, so in the meantime, here's how they look:

 

http://growingcoolplants.blogspot.com/2014/02/…
tricolor.html

 

Mike

San Jose, CA




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