according to Clive Innes, The world of Iridaceae, page 221 Iris pallida var sicula (Baker) and on page 152 listed synonyms for Gynandriris sisyrinchium include "Iris sisyrinchium L. Xiphion sisyrinchium Bak. Iris maculata Tod. Iris sicula Tod. Moraea sicula Tod. G. sicula Tod. Iris pallida Lam. var sicula (Tod.) Bak. Iris todaroana Cif. & Giac. ...." A Guide to species Iris lists Iris sicula Tod. as a synonym for Iris pallida. Brian Mathew in The Iris states that Iris sicula is "either a synonym of I pallida or possibly a hybrid between I pallida and I germanica." To go back to Clive Inness, The book has a number of mistakes, but is useful because it brings so many names together. Iris sicula Tod. was published in 1858 - http://books.google.co.uk/books/… and describes a handsome form of Iris pallida from Italy. Morea sicula Tod. was published in 1887, synonym Gynandiris (and Iris) sisyrinchium, also synonym *Iris** todaroana* Cif. & Giacom. ex S.Pignatti, Giorn. Bot. Ital. 113: 367 (1979 publ. 1980).<http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do/…> which describes a small flowerd form of Moraea sisyrichium. so yes Iris sicula is a form of I pallida, and Moraea sicula is a different plant Peter (UK) On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 7:18 PM, David Ehrlich <idavide@sbcglobal.net>wrote: > Regarding I. sicula vs. I. palida: some botanists think they are the same > species, Kew evidently among them, while others are equally certain that > they > are distinct species. I have no opinion -- my original letter was to > indicate > that it is not Moraea (Gynandriris) sisyrinchium. In any event, sellers > of I. > sicula specifically, in both Europe and the U.S., can be found on the > internet. > > David E. > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >