During the course of our Spring bloom season, we have many visitors to our garden. In any given year, there are many who are new to iris and who would like to have information about iris which we long-time irisarians might call basic. Your Bulletin Editor was asked about such an article, and at a recent meeting, prevailed upon me to provide the information, to which I readily agreed.
Basic parts of an Iris plant:
Falls: the lower three petals of the iris.
Fan of leaves: exactly that. Each fan of leaves means there is one
rhizome underneath that fan.
Increase: new plants which begin as white waxy looking buttons on the
sides of the rhizome. Known in some regions as toes.
Rhizome: brownish, potato-looking, fleshy root.
Spathe: the papery, eventually brown, covering of the emerging bud. This
papery covering eventually covers the ovary of the iris as the flower emerges
from bud stage.
Standards: the upright top three petals of the iris.
Stem: also called the stalk, that which holds the flower upright. May be
straight or gently S-curved.
There you have the iris from top to bottom. There is quite a bit in between:
Amoena: white, or tinted white standards, colored falls. Pronounced
"ame-nah".
Anther: stiff, tiny stem like aperture under the style arm.
Beards: the fuzzy, caterpillar like hairs on the falls. May be thick or
thin, self colors or contrasting.
Bicolor: two different colors.
Bitone: two tones of the same color.
Blend: combination of two or more colors.
Branch: any branch which appears off the side of the main stem or stalk.
Fluting: gentle dips and rises in the petal edges.
Glaciata: a pale color from plic breeding-no plic marking.
Hafts: the parts of the iris falls to either side of the tops of the
beards, also called shoulders.
Haft marks: veining on the hafts; sometimes considered unsightly.
Halo: a rim of color around the petals, usually contrasting to the main
color, not found on plics.
Lace: lightly laced irises have serrated edges; heavy lace gives a
crinkled, serrated effect which may affect the opening of the petals.
Luminata: pale yellow or near white style arms with pale white or yellow
veining on falls.
Midline stripe: a stripe of usually contrasting color down the middle of
the falls.
Mid-rib: the stiffened mid-section of the standards which hold them
upright.
Peppering: found on plics-as if you shook a pepper shaker of contrasting
color over an iris with a yellow or white background color.
Plicata: (also called plic) stitched, stippled or banded color in
contrast to the base color.
Pollen: powder-like grains which form on the anther.
Reverse amoena: darker standards and white or tinted white falls.
Ruffles: waving and fluting of the iris petals; some irises more heavily
ruffled than others.
Self: refers to an iris with all petals of one color.
Spur: a short side stem which may or may not be near the top of the stem
or stalk
Stigmatic
lip: the lip like petal under the style crest which receives the pollen.
Stitching: may go with the above, as if one had button-hole stitched
around the edges of the falls or all of the petals. "Stitches" may be
so close together as to look like a thin or thick solid rim around the petals.
Style arm: the three style arms rest above the anthers. They may be the
same color as the iris or may be contrasting colors.
Style crest: the upward curving of the top of the style arm. The style
crest may be plain, serrated or fringed.
Substance: thickness of petals.
Texture: finish or sheen of the petals.
Variegata: yellow or near-yellow standards with deeper falls color, which
may be either varied or solid tones of brown or purple. Variegatas are normally
yellow over maroon.
Wire-edge: a minute rim of color around the edges of the petals.
Abreviations of Iris Types:
BB: border bearded, usually up to 28 inches tall.
IB: intermediate bearded, usually from 16-28 inches tall.
MDB: miniature dwarf bearded iris, usually from 2-8 inches tall.
MTB: miniature tall bearded, usually 16-26 inches tall.
SDB: standard dwarf bearded iris, usually from 8-15 inches tall.
TB: tall bearded, stalks over 28" tall, perhaps as tall as 40-42
inches.
Beardless irises: Siberian, Spuria, Louisiana, Japanese, Pacific Coast
Native, Species.
AR: aril iris, oncocyclus and regelia are grouped together under this
term.
If all the above isn't enough to keep your head reeling, then consider the descriptive terms in iris catalogs:
Height: the height in inches as designated by the hybridizer.
Hybridizer: the person who made the iris. This name immediately follows
that of the iris.
Name of the iris: that name chosen by the hybridizer, approved by the AIS
registrar.
RE: this term generally indicates rebloom at some time other than Spring.
Year of introduction: the year which immediately follows the name of the
hybridizer.
Year of registration: the year in which the hybridizer registers the iris
with the AIS Registrar. May or may not be the same as the year of introduction.
E-M-L: Early, Mid-season and Late. By adding the letter V, we may have terms
such as VE which would mean very early, etc. These terms may be used as a guide.
It indicates the time of season the iris bloomed in the hybridizer's garden.
After the above comes the description of the flower, usually in very
"flowery" terms, the more to catch your eye with and possibly your
pocketbook. Best taken with several grains of salt. Some, but very few,
hybridizers tell it like it really is.
Other letters you will find in conjunction with irises may have to do with awards the iris has won. How do irises win awards? Each year The American Iris Society Judges vote a ballot. The ballots are tabulated and awards given. None of the AIS judges are infallible and popularity of the hybridizer or catalogs pictures sometimes play a part in awards given. The best way to determine if these award winners are truly worthy of growing is by growing them yourself! HC: highly commended; HM: honorable mention; AM: award of merit; Dykes medal: highest award an iris may win.