Iris x lurida Ait.

Horticultural & Botanical History

This is probably Iris lurida, the ‘Dingy flag’, figured in Curtis’s Botanic Magazine.  ‘Flowers early in May: its bloom is sweetish, and not entirely scentless, as described in Hort. Kew. where it is suspected to be a variety of Iris sambucina; a native of the southern parts of Europe; cultivated by Miller in 1758.’  [BM t.669/1803].  

Until 1900 all tall bearded irises arose from I. variegata and I. pallida crosses.  A number are included in the Camden catalogues.  Iris x lurida is suggested as the name for all such hybrids.  [Source unknown].

History at Camden Park

Listed in all published catalogues [B.242/1843].

Notes

Iris lurida Boiss. = Iris sari Schott ex Bak., synonym Iris lupina Fost., a rhizomatous, bearded, iris from the Middle East, with leaves to 9cm long, and a single, ruffled, crimson-veined, cream flower per stem in summer.  Each fall has a crimson or brown patch and a yellow beard.  [RHSE, Hortus].  This is a possibility.  I have found no date for Boissier’s description.

Iris lurida Rchb. ex Nyman is given as a synonym of both Iris germanica L. and Iris squalens.  The latter, from Central and Southern Europe, has lilac-purple flowers striped with yellow, and according to Johnson's Dictionary was introduced to Britain in 1768.  Whether this is the Iris squalens of Georgi, which has been related to Iris germanica L., or of Petanga, related to Iris sambucina, is unclear.  To add further confusion Iris squalens Berg is snonymous with Iris variegata L.  Iris squalens is reportedly synonymous with Iris x sambucina of some but not with the I. sambucina of Linnaeus.  [Hortus, JD, PD].  ‘It was only in compliance with the general, though erroneous, appellation of the later Botanists, that we did not restore Linnaeus’ name of sambucina to our pallida and apply this of squalens to our sambucina and its varieties.’  [BM t.787/1804].  [See also Iris sambucina L.].