Description
In 1999 a very distinct orphan was noticed in Antoine Hoog’s old Van Tubergen stock of Iris hoogiana purpurea. This was suspected to have been either a new straight hoogiana mutant or a previously non-flowering, hybrid plant which remained unnoticed in the VT stock for dozens of years. The orphan was christened Antiope. The old VT stock had, in the past, contained other cultivars (as rogues) but Antoine’s research indicated that none of the old named cultivars matched the colour scheme of Antiope, which was clearly something new and different.
When the first batch of seedlings from Antiope flowered, they seemed very similar to each other, (Amphion is one of these). This perhaps backed up the suggestion of Antiope being a straight hoogiana mutant. In subsequent years however, the variability and colouring which displayed in further flowerings began to suggest that Antiope was perhaps a hoogiana x stolonifera hybrid and that the seedlings were displaying segregation, towards one putative parent or the other.
It is notable that all of the siblings lack a yellow beard, which I always accepted to be typical of hoogiana, but it matches stolonifera. Even Zethos, which most closely resembles hoogiana, has the white beard more typically thought of as being from stolonifera.
The exact parentage will, of course, remain as supposition but the seedlings seem to fit the hypothesis and the progeny are superb garden plants with superbly patterned, beautifully scented flowers.
Veering very much towards the supposed stolonifera parent, this has standards with warm-brown and golden veining over a pale coffee-coloured ground with a median zone which fades from bronze at the base to a diffuse indigo at the apex. The falls are more intensely coloured and show bronze veining over a cream ground, though the bronze becomes confluent at the apex. There is a deep indigo-violet blotch in the centre, which forms a perfect foil for the white beard.
