Description
(Spuria section)
In 1948, Dr. Lee W. Lenz of the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont, California was given seed by Professor Haydar Bagda of Ankara University, Turkey. He subsequently suggested the name of “Turkey Yellow” as a useful handle for what was a clearly new species, which had not then been formally described. This name persisted until it was described as Iris xanthospuria by Brian Mathew and Turhan Baytop (The Garden Vol.107, 11, pp 446) in 1982 and so as late as 1981 (in Brian Mathew’s ‘The Iris’) it was still being referred to as “Turkey Yellow”. The name xanthospuria derives from the Greek for Yellow, xanthos, and the the fact that it belongs to the Spuria group of Iris.
It grows from a thick rhizome, covered with the fibrous remains of the previous season’s leaves. The leaves are virtually evergreen and are tough, erect and 40-100cm long by up to (almost) 2cm wide. They are a decorative grey –green.
The flower stems are a bit taller and are made in late April and May. They can be single or branched and each branch carries 2-5 flowers which individually are around 10cm across. Green spathes subtend each flower. The flowers themselves are a bright yellow, though they vary slightly and you might see the yellow described as deep, golden, lemon, bright or rich.
In the wild this has been found several times in the border area between Turkey and Syria, around Mugla in the s.w. and also as far north as Ankara, so that it appears to be quite widespread.
In cultivation it presents no problem grown as a garden plant, with no special treatments as it is apparently both reliable and floriferous. It is hardy with us.
Stock originally from Erich Pasche of Wuppertal and from Erich, this is directly traceable to a find made by Turhan Baytop Turkey, Mugla, Köycegiz, 1982.
Picture 2 (in Gallery, © Erich Pasche, with thanks)