Iris coccina / ea etc

Dennis Kramb dkramb@badbear.com
Mon, 28 Jan 2013 08:58:48 PST
It seems you missed the follow-up messages on PBS.  The original donor
already explained it was Iris collina.  Apparently Del misinterpreted his
handwriting as I. coccina.

The seeds originate from wild plants in southern Italy.  Lots of hits (in
Italian) come up when you Google "Iris collina".

Dennis in Cincinnati




On Mon, Jan 28, 2013 at 5:42 AM, <iain@auchgourishbotanicgarden.org> wrote:

> I have rattled around our reference collection books, periodicals and
> nursery catalogues as well as on line sources to no great advantage on this
> one.
>
> Off the top, it would appear to be either an example of progressively
> repeated spelling errors in one or more nurseries - hardly a new phenomenon
> or more than likely another infuriating example of vanity nomenclature,
> i.e. an invalidly published or unpublished names - also hardly another new
> phenomenon.This name, however it is spelt, doesn't come close to any
> recognised taxon therefore at best it may have been used by a nursery or
> individual attached to a sport or cultivar. Invariably ladies don't do
> vanity nomenclature but men litter the world with this junk.
>
> None of the works either by Waddick & Zhao, Innes as already cited,
> Cassidy & Linnegar, RBG -Edinburgh and RBG - Kew have anything like this.
> It clearly is not a recognised plant at any level including that of
> basonym. Perhaps a back track to the supplying source might be useful, if
> its an option other than that it seems to be a dead end. If its a nice Iris
> just enjoy it as your secret mystery plant.  Another thought is that this
> word loosely relates to a colour used in the manufacture of expensive cloth
> in the late middle ages and it was traded from the Far East. I am no doubt
> probably/certainly/positively wrong once again but I think it was produced
> by crushing certain types of invertebrates but not much help is it when
> trying to track down a wee Iris!
>
> Postscript - the word 'COCHIN' in one context refers to a large region in
> south-east Asia, e.g. Cochin China, could it have originated there?
>
> Iain
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