I find the local forms of Iris fascinating, so much information is lost when the names of regional variants are sunk as synonoms! Many of the plants in circulation in Britain as Iris humilis are in fact a small spuria which I presume is Iris sintenisii, but may be pontica? (Iris humilis is also a small yellow Iris, varying in size across its distribution and not a spuria). Iris pontica does not appear to be in circulation in Britain judging by the comments below, as all the plants I have seen, and that I have grown from seed, have narrow, upright leaves about 12 inches high, amongst which are buried the flowers. The leaves of these plants do bend over to make a cushion effect at the end of the growing season. Peter (UK) On Mon, Jan 28, 2013 at 5:24 PM, James Waddick <jwaddick@kc.rr.com> wrote: > Dear Iain, Dennis and all, > > I thought this topic was dead, but now that it rises again I'll > add some relevant info: > > I collina was published (Salisbury, 1796), but is considered a > synonym of Gynandriris sisyrinchium, or now Moraea sisyrinchium. No longer > applies to the genus Iris. > > The name I collina as used by Angelo is a patronym or local name > without validity (unpublished, even incorrectly) for I sintenisii. The only > place this name still seems to appear is on Italian sites to point out its > disjunct distribution from the main populations of this species to the > north and east. > > Plants in cultivation under the name I sintenisii are often > misidentified. The true species has stiff upright foliage to 10, 12 inches > or taller. Cultivated plants may be Iris pontica a dwarf clump forming > species with spreading foliage, but usually only about 4 inches in height. > > Add a few other dwarf spuria species and the taxonomy is in > general not clear. Best Jim W. > > >