Notholirion & Iris

Iain Brodie of Falsyde auchgourishbotgard@falsyde.sol.co.uk
Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:20:18 PDT
NOTHOLIRION.  I too seem a bit bemused by the apparent linkage with Notholirion and Ornitholgalum. Notholirion is one of the Genera I am covering in my book and as I also grow several species of that Genus, especially N. thomsonianum, and Ornithogalum species too  I struggle however to see where plants in the two genera might be confused as to which genus they belong to. I don't have O. dubium so can't make a specific 'call' with regards to that taxon. For my guddled wee brain the answer lays, amongst other things, in the bulb differences between these two genera.  
Ornithogalium dubium - Houtt. is placed in Hyacinthaceae and has a synonym O. thyrsoides ; while
Notholirium thomsonianum - (Royle) Stapf. is placed in Liliaceae and has a synonym Lilium thompsonianum

IRIS. As fok are mentioning the pleasures now arriving with the flowering of their Iris specie, two here have cheered me up no end as they are two I specifically wait for, the first is Iris milesii and the second is Iris typhifolia but missing out Iris lutescens would be a mistake although it is now 'going over' a bit. The next big job, Iris maackii will be in a couple of weeks so plenty to look forward to. This latter species Jim Waddick has J-PEGS which I sent to him and he is welcome to put it up for members to look at. Essentially my seed came from the banks of the Amur river on the Russian / Chinese border and vary in colour between off white, milky yellow through to butter yellow, but on individual plants, its a self coloured species. This species with me has no choice but 
to grow on pure sand but still manages to make 1.2 to 1.3 metres, on damp ground I would expect it to do somewhat better.

I have plants growing from six collections from Tibet, all rhysomatic iris, but now six years old from seed and yet to flower. I would be glad if someone could suggest why they have taken so long to do so. There are, according to plant sizes anyway, probably at least three different taxa amongst them but stubborn as heck in the flowering department. This season I hope for developments but probably in vain knowing my luck.

Regards,  Iain


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