The Irises of Florida - Society for Louisiana Iris

new species.From what Michael has found, Iwould conclude that the majority of irisesin Florida should be classed as a hybridswarm. Small reported hexagona growingin the northern part of Florida, but tohave the hybrid swarm there must besomething for hexagona to hybridizewith, if it is indeed one of the parents.Anyway you want to look at it, it seemsvery unlikely that any of the speciesgrowing in Louisiana is the other parent,so that means there is at least one otherspecies growing in Florida that has neverbeen recognized, possibly one that Smalldescribed and named.Michael Gideon has been trying tointerest some others in making the samekind of test on the Florida irises thatMichael Arnold and Bobby Bennett madeon the irises in Louisiana. Hopefully,those efforts will prove successful andnew scientific evidence will become availableabout Florida irises.Editor’s Note: Michael Gideon makesno claims as to the species status ofirises. He has worked to encouragescientific testing, and hopefully resultswill be available soon.A View from the 1930sThe Distribution of Irisin FloridaBY H. HAROLD HUMEThe seven species of iris native inFlorida, as classified by John K.Small, fall naturally into fourgroups represented by (1) Iris hexagonaWalt., (2) I. savannarum Small, I.rivularis Small, I. albispiritus Small, I.Kimballiae Small, (3) I. virginica L.and (4) I. tripetala Walt. Of these, thefour constituting the second group arenot known to occur outside the state,excepting I. rivularis, reported fromGeorgia close to the Florida boundary,while those representing the other threegroups are found far outside Florida.Within the state the native species arewidely distributed. I. savannarum is themost abundant and in some sections occursin great colonies while I. hexagonaand I. virginica are found in fair sizedcolonies in a few localities.The remaining four speciesare quite limited both innumbers and in distribution.All are moisture and humusloving plants but, althoughwater is essential totheir distribution and the establishmentof young plants,yet it is not always presentin surplus throughout theyear. Often iris plants arein shallow standing watercontinuously for weeks ormonths, but at other seasonsthere is no standing waterwhere they grow. Water inoptimum or in large amountsis most beneficial duringtheir growing season. It isan interesting fact that all ofthem adapt themselves toordinary garden conditionsand can be grown successfullyif particular attention is given to watering,indicating that the abundance ofwater so often present where they grownaturally, although not inimical to, is actuallynot necessary for the welfare ofestablished plants.Presumably either the irises nowgrowing in Florida came from regionsfarther north or their progenitors did.Some, as I. hexagona, I. virginica andI. tripetala, still have their northern connections.Since their seeds are commonlywater borne, they came in on the floodwaters of long ago, moving from northto south, even as they may be brought instill from time to time on the floods ofthe rivers that originate to the northwardand flow through western Florida. Undernatural conditions they grow in locationswhere moisture below the groundsurface, and at times above, is suited totheir needs. Since they require amplesupplies of water at certain seasons ofthe year for their well being, conditionsbest suited to their growth are found inthe coastal plains areas, along streamsand rivers, more particularly the St.Marys and St. Johns, and in the southernand western parts of the state wherethe land falls away south and west fromthe interior highlands. Seventy-five feetDr. H. Harold Hume was a prominenthorticultural author and anagriculture dean, provost for agricultureand acting president at theUniversity of Florida over the period1930 to 1949. This article is reprintedfrom the AIS Bulletin No. 47, April1933. With the exception of I. hexagonaand I. virginica , none of thespecies mentioned by Hume are anylonger recognized.S P R I N G 2 0 0 3 | S L I N E W S L E T T E R 7

or thereabouts is the maximum elevationand by far the greatest numbers of plantsare found at elevations only a few feetabove sea-level. Among the highestpoints at which colonies of iris grow arethe ones east of Chipley (I. virginica),south of Leesburg and north of NewnansLake (I. savannarum).The absence of irises from certainareas may be accounted for in part onthe basis of soil reactions. They willflourish on soils that are quite acid, but itis equally true that apparently they alsogrow well on soils that are neutral or evenalkaline in their reaction. Still it is undoubtedlya fact that soils may be so alkalineas to interfere with or check theirgrowth. This may explain why they donot occur on the lower east coast of thestate, for there none apparently are to befound much south of the Fort Pierce-Okechobee line, even though soils unquestionablyadapted to their growth areto be found much farther south. Hence,while soil reaction may be to some extenta controlling factor in their distributionand may account for the presenceor absence of plants in given areas, it isapparently not the only one and it is entirelypossible that what took place affectingtheir distribution during geologicages accounts for their absence from certainlocalities. Naturally, one would thinkthat the Everglades would be adapted totheir growth, yet none are found nativein the Everglades proper. It may be thatthe general trend of drainage waters didnot distribute them in that area. Certainmineral elements necessary for theirgrowth may be absent from Evergladesoils, and again they may have beencrowded out by the rank growth of otherplants. Irises native in Louisiana andthose from other parts of Florida howeverare being grown successfully undercultivation when provided with mineralsupplements.Iris albispiritus. The northern limitof this form appears to be on the oldLakeland-Auburndale road at telephonepole 276, about four miles east of Lakeland.It is associated with willow andcypress on the north side of the road.The type locality is near LaBelle. It isfound in the LaBelle-Fort Myers area,on the west side of Lake Okeechobeeand west of Wauchula. Over this generalarea it is widely scattered, but notabundant in any one place. Usually it ismixed with I. savannarum and perhapssome times difficult to distinguish fromthe albino form of that species. Whiteirises probably belonging here have beenfound at Red Level, but whether theyare Albispiritus or only an albino of I.savannarum is not known. Further studyand exploration is needed for this species.Iris hexagona is confined to thenorthern portion of the state and apparentlyis not present south of a line drawnfrom Jacksonville to the mouth of theSuwannee. There is a small colony inCallahan, another small one a few mileswest of Jacksonville near Hart HavenonState Road No. 1, and a larger one southof Magville on State Road No. 13. It isprobable that there are others in the HartHaven-Maxville area. On the west sideof the upper part of the peninsula, it is tobe found in limited numbers at Cross Cityfrom whence it extends northward intoLaFayette County and westward towardPerry and St. Marks. It is in this generalarea that it is to be found in greatest abundanceand in some localities there arelarge colonies. Compared with I.virginica and I. savannarum its range isquite limited.Iris Kimballiae. Although reportedby Small 1 as occurring on both sides ofthe upper peninsula, this species has beenseen only at Appalachicola. As comparedwith I. savannarum, to which it is doubtlessrelated, it is a less robust plant withsmaller flowers and erect rapier-likeleaves. North of the town the SheipLumber Manufacturing Plant is located.Near it a little creek or stream comes infrom the west to join the AppalachicolaRiver on which the plant is situated. Thisstream is crossed by a bridge for the railroad.Right at the south end of the bridgeon the east side there is a small colonyof I. Kimballiae. It is associated with I.virginica, willows, sawgrass, lizard’s tail“Iris albirispitus”, scanned from a copy of the Hume article thatappeared in the AIS Bulletin in 1933.and buttonbush. Across the bridge (onthe north side), it occurs among sawgrasson the west side of the track. On theeast side a short path leads from the railroadto a boat cache inside a fenced area.Just after crossing the fence, close to theedge of the stream, I. Kimballiae growsin St. Augustine grass and it is also foundnearer the boats. Farther out away fromthe bridge there is a small patch on the8 S L I N E W S L E T T E R | S P R I N G 2 0 0 3

east side of the railroad track. In thelumber yard there are a few clumps betweenthe westernmost lumber piles andthe wooded area that separates them fromthe railroad. Farther south, too, wherethere is a lot of I. virginica there are oneor two clumps. The tallest flower stemmeasured forty inches. Here and thereplants were in bloom when the locationwas visited (March 11, 1932). Had itnot been for the frost of the previousnight (March 10), which injured manyflowers there would have been quite ashowing.Iris rivularis has been reported onlyfrom the general type locality in northeasternFlorida and the writer has not beenable to collect it although three attemptshave been made. Small, 2 who describedand named it as a new species, statesthat it occurs along streams flowing intothe St. Marys River, but whether it occurselsewhere than in the watershed ofthat river as it approaches its outlet isnot known. There is every reason tobelieve it is quite local in distribution, butuntil additional collections are made itsarea cannot be delimited.Iris savannarum. There are moreplants of I. savannarum in Florida thanof all other irises counted together. Italso occurs more or less abundantly overa greater area in the state than any otherspecies. It is found from the St. JohnsRiver, where it turns eastward to the sea,south to Fort Pierce and Okeechobee onthe eastern side of the state, and on thewestern side from the southern watershedof the Suwannee to the Big Cypresssoutheast of Fort Myers. Its distributionthroughout these areas is, ofcourse, not continuous. In the centralportion of the state the northernmostpoint at which it has been found is almostnorth of Newnans Lake on theshort road from Gainesville to OrangeHeights. South of a line that may bedrawn from the Suwannee to the St.Johns through the point just mentioned,I. savannarum is to be found here andthere in comparatively small colonies inmany different places. In the northernsection it is not abundant, though thereare fairly large colonies in the vicinity ofOtter Creek, but the great area in whichI. savannarum occurs in countless numbersextends around the north side ofLake Okeechobee, southward around thewest side and southwestward to LaBelleand Fort Myers. In that vast area, whichextends from Wauchula westward toBradenton and southward, it is to befound growing in colonies of many, manyacres, while in the Okeechobee prairiesection it is so abundant that one maylook out across patches of I. savannarumof such size that their farthest sides canscarcely be seen. When in bloom thesecolonies area wonderful sight. There aregoodly sized areas on State Roads Numbers22 and 24 where they approach theimmediate vicinity of the St. Johns River.Definite locations at which it has beencollected are almost too numerous to list.Iris tripetala. Apparently, I. tripetalais found in Florida only west. of theAppalachicola River in the flatwoods inproximity to the Gulf of Mexico. Here,too, a lovely white form is occasionallyfound. The exact area for this specieshas not been determined, but it has beencollected north of Appalachicola, west ofWewahitchka and north of St. AndrewsBay. A careful survey of the area westof the latter point will probably result inextending its known area of distribution.It is a month to six weeks later in floweringthan I. Kimballiae. Its usual bloomingseason begins about April 15th.Iris virginica is peculiarly an iris ofthe watersheds of the St. Marys and St.Johns Rivers. It is found here and therealong the banks of both. Usually it occursin rather small colonies and nowheredoes it cover great areas. The placeswhere it is found in greatest numbers arealong the Seaboard Air Line and the AtlanticCoast Line railroads north andnortheastward from Callahan and alongthe Florida East Coast railroad fromBayard toward St. Augustine and westof St. Augustine toward the St. JohnsRiver. It is not known to occur in peninsularFlorida along the Gulf of Mexico,and it has not been found in the centralportion of the state. It is present in afew places in western Florida, more particularlyat the estuaries of several riversthat, having their origin outside the statein areas to the northward, flow throughFlorida into the Gulf of Mexico. For themost part it is not found along State RoadNo. 1 in western Florida, only one smallcolony having been noted east of Chipley.It grows on the Ochlockonee River wherethe road from East Port (State Road No.10) crosses it. The southernmost locationas reported by Small 3 is in the BigCypress, southeast of Fort Myers. Asthis is an isolated patch, having no connectionwith any other to the northward,its presence there may be due to seedscarried by waterfowl or other birds. Localitiesfor the species checked by thewriter are: Black Creek, Green CoveSprings, Dun’s Creek and Rice Creek atthe St. Johns River, Ortega, Jacksonville(Willow Branch), Orange Park, Bayard,West Tocoi, Hastings, Palatka,Kingsland, Chipley, south of Glen St.Mary on the south prong of the St.Marys, Appalachicola, OchlockoneeRiver (near mouth). It has also been reportedfrom Lake City.Iris coloniesIn so many instances the iris speciesof Florida grow in unmixed pure groupsthat the occurrence of more than onespecies in a group or colony or even inclose proximity is always interesting.Combinations, however are found attimes. I. virginica and I. Kimballiaeare to be found both together and in closeproximity at Appalachicola. In one largecolony of I. virginica near the SheipLumber Manufacturing Plant a singleclump of I. Kimballiae has been noted.In the railroad ditch the two were closetogether and near the lumber piles (betweenthem and the railroad) they alsooccupy the same area. In this latter caseI. virginica was numerous with only afew clumps of I. Kimballiae visible hereand there.At the edge of Green Cove Springson the road from Shands Bridge, theground is low and the ditches filled witha growth of such plants as crinum, sedges,lizard’s tail, peltandra and iris. Here bothI. virginica and I. savannarum occur inclose proximity. In some cases the plantsare intermixed.S P R I N G 2 0 0 3 | S L I N E W S L E T T E R 9

I. hexagonaAn Iris hexagona specimen from the Carolinas showing the form typicallyassociated with the species. It is blue but shorter than I. giganticaerulea.The falls appear rounded, an effect created because the hafts, the portionbeneath the style arms, are very narrow.At the north end of the bridge acrossDoctor’s Inlet, I. virginica and I.savannarum grow together; the coloniesare so mixed that care has to be taken insecuring plants of the two species separately.On the road from Jacksonville toSt. Augustine there occurs an interestingdivision of locations of species. Abouttwenty-five miles from the ferry in SouthJacksonville the highway crosses a ridgeof higher land. It is about two miles wideand on either side of it the land is low.North of this ridge in the railroad ditches,I. virginica alone is found. South of theridge it is replaced by I. savannarum. OnState Road No. 48 (St. Augustine toShands Bridge) about three miles westof St. Augustine, I. virginica and I.savannarum grow in the same generalarea. There is quite a large patch of thelatter growing with willows at the beginningof the low lands.At the east end of Shands Bridge onthe north side in the flood area of the St.Johns there is a single little group of Irissavannarum. At the west end of thebridge Iris virginica only is found (onboth sides of the road). The little groupon the south side produces dark colored,delightfully sweet-scented flowers. Thesescented blooms are rare, according to thewriter’s observations.I. albispiritus is usually associatedwith or adjacent to I. savannarum whereverfound in the great iris areas of SouthFlorida from Lake Okeechobee toLaBelle and from Wauchula to Bradenton.Since there is an albino form of thelatter, I. albispiritus is not easy to differentiate.Notes1Addisonia. 9: 59-60. pl. 318. D:1924.2Addisonia. 12: 11-12. Pl. 390.Mar. 1927.3Journal of the New York BotanicalGarden, 32: p. 62. 1931.Right: The plates at right and onpage 13 are reproduced from theSociety’s Fiftieth AnniversaryPublication, 1999. These plateswere originally published inAddisonia in 1925-29 to illustratethe research of Dr. John K. Small,Curator of the New York BotanicalGarden, in Florida, Louisiana andother areas.“I. savanarum”“I. Kimballiae”10 S L I N E W S L E T T E R | S P R I N G 2 0 0 3

Discovering New Forms among the HexanonaeLooking Hard in FloridaWith almost all the former“species” now rejectedand I. hexagona ascendant,what are we to makeof the variety amongFlorida’s native irises?BY PATRICK O’CONNORWhat we do not yet know, or isnot documented, about thenative irises of Florida apparentlycould fill volumes. The principalspecies attributed to peninsular Florida,I. hexagona, is believed by some to havecompany, and it is pretty clear regardlessthat the variety among the irises inthe Series Hexagonae found in Floridafar exceeds previous description.I am singularly unqualified to offeropinions on these irises, having no firsthandknowledge of them. I certainly amnot prepared to deal with whether thereare more species out there than those thathave been designated; or fewer, with theexceptional forms simply representingintraspecies variation. It seems thatsomeone always wants to tinker withspecies designations, and why not?They are manmade categories useful tothe degree that they encapsulate but donot obscure important characteristics.Bruce Hanson, Curator of the Herbariumin the Department of Biology atthe University of South Florida at Tampa,cautions that “true that species vary withhabitat, with geography, with microclimaticconditions, et cetera. And in myopinion, horticultural hobbyists seem alwaysto make too much of minor differencesin color and stature.”The widely accepted view today,unlike in the time of Small or Hume, isthat the indigenous hexagonae in Floridaare limited to two or perhaps three species.I. brevicaulis has exceedingly limiteddistribution and is reported only fromJackson County, which abuts Georgia.I. fulva is reported only in Santa RosaCounty, also in the panhandle and only acounty away from Alabama. One sourceasserts that fulva actually was introducedto the state. The irises in the rest of theFlorida, from the Georgia border to thesouthern tip, are I. hexagona. BruceHanson indicates that, barring taxonomicresearch to the contrary, I. hexagona willcontinue to be the designation of theFlorida irises.High Ground in FloridaThe center of the PeninsularFlorida, roughly inside the rectangle,is marked by a centralridge that tapers off toward thecoast. These southern highlandsrepresent one of the threeenvironments associated withvariation in iris forms.But WaitFair enough. But consider the workand observations of Michael Gideon andhis family.Michael Gideon lives in SouthFlorida. He is has devoted as much timeand effort to the recognition and understandingof the Florida irises as any ofthe early collectors did with respect toLouisiana’s irises during the discoverydays from the 1930s to the 1950s. Overseveral years, Michael and his family havesystematically sought out the locationsof native irises, collected samples, andobserved them in garden culture. Basedon the unexpected variety found, he hasThe relief map was developed by Ray Sterner of the Johns HopkinsUniversity Applied Physics Laboratory and used with permission.Additional information is available at http://fermi.jhuapl.edu/states/.S P R I N G 2 0 0 3 | S L I N E W S L E T T E R 11

From top: A pale violet from LevyCounty; two views of a nice, veinedpurple collected by the Vestrands.Photos by Steve Shepard.developed fascinating hypotheses aboutthese irises, their ecological niche, whatthey represent and where they camefrom. His discoveries should stimulatefurther interest by Floridians in their irislegacy, and they should engender a fullerappreciation by all for the scale and scopeof the hexagonae.I cannot pretend to do justice to thedetail of Michael’s observations, researchand hypothesizing, which I have cometo generally understand through a numberof letters and phone conversations.Hopefully, knowledge of what has beendiscovered so far will stimulate futurework, including taxonomic analysis, tounderstand and appreciate these overlookedplants.GeographyMichael Gideon has observed threedifferent habitats in Florida that broadlycorrespond to variations in irises. Thefirst is based on a north-south dimension.Florida is an elongated state stretching447 miles from the St. Marys Riverto Key West.Variation in climate as well as topographyover this distance is associated withsignificant differences in iris bloom time.This creates separate niches in whichirises have developed independently.Michael places the border of this northsouthdivision at “an imaginary line runningfrom Cross City in the west throughGainesville and east to Palataka.” Hesays, “There’s a weather difference atthis line with six weeks earlier winter andsix weeks later spring. This keeps thesouthern forms in the south.”Above the line grow the “northernforms”, which are generally the same asthe irises found in Georgia. I gather thatthese are more typical of the original I.hexagona, named from specimens collected,I believe, from the Carolinas.Within the southern region of peninsularFlorida, and below the Cross Cityto-Palatakaline, there is an additional divisionbased on elevation and characteristicsassociated with highland versuscoastal terrain. Not having firsthand familiaritywith Florida, the notion of highlandscame as a surprise, but the reliefmap on the previous page clearly reflectsthe central ridge.Distinct differences have been observedbetween highland and coastalirises, and both differ from the northernforms. The highland forms are most interestingbecause they have been largelyoverlooked. Michael Gideon describesthe highland habitat in this way:“In many locations in the interiorit’s almost desert like, the soil ispure silica sand and the sun burnsoff the surface moisture. One wouldnever imagine iris growing hereand that’s why no one ever lookedin the highlands. At some pointthe rainwater seeps out downslope.This is where the highland form exists.These seeps are usually notconnected to any river and are landlocked.You must learn where tolook. Usually, it’s a good hike into these isolated bogs . . . .”He also observes that these sites oftenare on private cattle land. Many acresnot devoted to cattle have been transformedby the phosphate industry into alandscape inhospitable to irises. Cattlemenactually have protected these irisesfrom destruction.The highland forms are often white,but not always. Blues, purples and othercolor variants with the characteristics ofhighland irises are also found. Theseirises are shorter than the coastal forms,never taller than three feet, and with aflower smaller than the coastal irises,more on the order of I. fulva in size. Theflower is spidery and the petals recurve,although exceptions are found. Interestingly,the highland form is not fond ofover-wet situations. Perhaps it resemblesI. brevicaulis in this trait.The coastal irises have been describedas “giant blues,” a phrase familiarin South Louisiana. The northernforms are also generally blue but shorter,and they sound like the originally describedI. hexagona.Michael sent me a large number ofplants several years ago. Only two havebloomed, both blues that show no apparentdifference from I. giganticaerulea.They were tall and robust. One was acoastal form from near Sarasota notablefor its vigor and the monstrous rhizomesit produces. They match those of somegiganticaeruleas that I once dug out of afreshwater marsh in Cameron Parish,Louisiana, each very stout and easily afoot or more in length.Other plants sent from the highlands,and the northern forms, do not grownearly that vigorously or produce suchprodigious rhizomes, even while growingfor me in identical garden conditions.12 S L I N E W S L E T T E R | S P R I N G 2 0 0 3

“I. albispiritus”, named by Small.Compare to ‘Cass White’, right.Except for the coastal forms, which thrivein the New Orleans area, the irises thatMichael sent so far have not bloomed.They do survive, however.Apparently some of the Florida irisesare better adapted to the particular climateand soil of their niches in Floridathan to the rest of the Gulf Coast. Or,perhaps my mistake was not knowing howto accommodate their origins. Theyprobably deserve better treatment than Ihave afforded them.Overlap and VariationThe observation of three generallydistinct habitats should not imply that allFlorida hexagonae fall clearly into oneA “giant blue” from near Sarasota growing in a NewOrleans garden.grouping or another. In fact, oneof the major observations made isthat there is unexpected variationamong the Florida irises thatseems to extend well beyond threegroupings.Part of the reason for variationis that in places where the differentenvironments intersect, aswith the natural hybrids found inLouisiana, intermediate forms areproduced. And, since seeds floatdownward (barring the effects ofhurricanes), there is a tendency forsome of the characteristics of thehighland irises to drift downwardalso, so that there is a mix in theadjoining areas. The reverse doesnot generally occur since waterand seed are not inclined to flowupstream unless pushed. Michaeladds that, “Even now the riversthat drain out of the highlands usuallygo dry and that’s what keepsthe coastal forms out of the highlands.”In areas where plants with both highlandand coastal characteristics are found,it was observed that the highland formstended to be up on a levee, the coastalsdown in the water.Another conditioning factor promotingvariation is isolation. Many highlandbogs are isolated from one anotherwith little chance of cross contamination.That being the case, the irises in one areaare free to interbreed over the years,many hundreds ofthem, and to developunique and stablecharacteristics. This isnot unlike what mayhave happened inLouisiana aroundAbbeville, where I.nelsonii developed,the product originallyof other species.It should not besurprising that, withtime, a localizedpopulation could developunique characteristics.The work of‘Cass White’ , collected by KennethCass in 1985 in Lee County in the samearea where Dr. John Small collectedspecimens from which “I. albispiritus”was named. ‘Cass White’ wasregistered by Robert Turley in 1996.hybridizers has vividly demonstrated howmuch change in plant characteristics ispossible very quickly through controlledcrosses, so different characteristics mightwell pop up and then come to dominatean isolated population left alone to interbreedover a long period.Michael feels that Small’s white “I.albispiritus” is a cross between highlandand coastal forms. Once thought to havedisappeared, he rediscovered the socalled“Ghost Iris” after deciding to lookinland and upland. He has now found itin numerous locations, but in wetter sitesthan the habitat of a pure highland form.Michael cites the collected and registered‘Cass White’ as an example of“I. albispiritus.” It was, in fact, collectedby Kenneth Cass in 1985 at thesite were Small found “albispiritus.”ColorsOne of the principal variations foundis the existence of irises other than theblues and whites associated with I. hexagona.In a letter a couple of years ago,Michael reported yellows, reds, and othercolors, and added, “The yellows andreds are only found in the highland form.S P R I N G 2 0 0 3 | S L I N E W S L E T T E R 13

Left, from top: spidery blue coastalform from near Sarasota; I. hexagonasample under study by Alan Meerow;a pale violet from Hillsboroughcounty; and a deep purple from PolkCounty, showing the recurvatureassociated with the highlands form.Middle, from top: a Highlands Countyburgundy-violet; a Manatee Countywhite; another white collected west ofPalataka; and a very short I.hexagona, around two feet;Right, from top: a violet northernform from the Pinhook Swamp; a PolkCounty blue-purple.The interior folks all speak of a brightyellow. So far we’ve found pale yellowsand the opaque yellow with a violetflush. Kenneth Cass found a real nicebicolor last spring.” Apparently, manyof the whites found in Florida are actuallymore of a cream color, which suggeststhe presence of yellow. More recently,Michael indicated that the brightyellow has now been found.The photographic evidence is interesting,although Michael has not had thetime to emphasize creation of perfect pictures.His photography has been motivatedby the need to create a record forhimself of what he has found rather thancreating sharp images of single blossoms.I have seen quite a few of the pictures,and indeed there is a surprising degreeof color variation. And, they supplyclear documentation of the observed14 S L I N E W S L E T T E R | S P R I N G 2 0 0 3

differences in flower form. Other photosof Florida irises by Steve Shepardadd supporting evidence.My understanding is that the “reds”found in Florida are not on the order ofI. fulva or I. nelsonii. Occasionally aniris has been found with a distinct reddishinfluence, but it would be incorrectto say that they are comparable to thetwo indisputably red species.It is difficult to grasp and characterizedifferences in Florida irises in termsof color. My appreciation of it is thatthere are unexpected color variations, althoughnot in great numbers. White is apredominant color in some localities, butthat has been reported (and it is an interestingdifference from Louisiana wherewhites are only occasional finds).At least in comparison to Louisiana,the apparent absence of I. fulva in Floridaappears to have suppressed the colorrange of “hybrid” forms found there.Fulva contributes both red and yellow tohybrid crosses. Still, interesting and unanticipatedvariety exists with the veryreal possibility that a full appreciation ofFlorida’s irises would reveal complexitiesin their backgrounds and relationshipsthat we do not now understand.OriginsMichael Gideon not only searches outnative irises, but he has thought aboutthem broadly and often in epochal terms.I am unable to do justice to these themes.He often refers to what Florida and theGulf Coast were like before, during, andafter the Ice Age. How the glaciers retreated,where the irises must have beendeposited and how they developed.What the relationship is between Louisiana,Florida and other places along theGulf Coast. Fascinating stuff with whichI am ill-equipped to deal.Another theme, equally fascinating,is the relationship between native irisesand the native peoples of prehistorictimes. There is clear evidence of theuse of irises for their medicinal and otherproperties. It is plausible to entertain theidea that, to the extent that these plantswere of value in the lives of thesepeoples, they were collected and plantednear dwelling places or even traded.Indeed, the pollen record in archeologicalsites clearly shows that irises werepresent. It is well documented that tradeoccurred over wide areas, with relationshipsbetween Florida, Louisiana andother areas northward into the MississippiValley. Perhaps some variation inFlorida irises resulted from the interventionof man in ancient times. I am notsure where this leads specifically in termsof our understanding of what we find today,but it is a most interesting line ofinquiry.What Next?The discoveries of Michael Gideonand his family invite at least as manyquestions as they answer. Are variationsin plant growth due to local conditions?What happens when a coastalform is grown under highland conditions,and vice versa? Dr. Alan Meerow ofthe USDA Agricultural Research Servicein Miami is involved in DNA testing ofthe Florida irises. That should help naildown relationships among Florida irisesand possibly their relationship with irisesfrom elsewhere.It is sometimes difficult to understandwhy the irises of Florida have notattracted more notice in iris circles, includingSLI. Small called our attentionto them long ago. Certainly, people livingin proximity to these plants have appreciatedthem, and not just in recenttimes. Iris distribution is widespread inFlorida, even if they are not always accessible.Benny Trahan of Slidell, Louisiana,who has systematically scoured the Louisianacountryside for new and differentLouisianas still in the wild, also took atwo week vacation to search among theFlorida irises. In that time, he did notfind great variation, but he was impressedthat, if anything, the numbers of plantsgrowing in Florida may easily exceedthose in Louisiana, at least what is lefttoday.With such numbers of plants outthere, spread widely over a varying climaticand topological field and often inaccessible,perhaps it should not be surprisingthat there is heretofore unappreciatedvariety in the irises of Florida.Hopefully, we are approaching a timewhen they will be more widely recognizedand understood.A clump of violet Taylor County irises. Photo by Steve Shepard.S P R I N G 2 0 0 3 | S L I N E W S L E T T E R 15