IRIS MEDITERRANEA spec. nov. - A NEW MEMBER OF NATIVE BALKAN FLORA AND VEGETATION.

Iris mediterranea species nova is a fertile natural species, similar to the vegetatively propagated, limited-fruiting cultural species Iris germanica L. (Iris x germanica auct. p.p.). The species have similar flowers, blue-purple, but with Iris mediterranea there do not occur the dark reddish-purple shades which are present in a significant number of clones of Iris germanica. In contrast with Iris germanica, except one clone found in culture, there are no known whiteflowered plants of Iris mediterranea yet. In contrary, photos published in public discussions show samples of Iris mediterranea from distanced places in Greek mountains with bicolor flowers: standards are pure white, falls blue or even deep purple. Such color combination is not known in Iris germanica. Habitus is similar in both species, but Iris mediterranea has more abundant branching in many of its clones. The majority of Iris mediterranea plants are similar in coloration to the known clones of Iris trojana Kerner ex Stapf, which correspond in flower size to selected large-flowered clones of Iris mediterranea known from culture. Iris trojana usually has also a larger number of flowers per stem. In flowering time, Iris mediterranea is intermediate between Iris germanica and Iris trojana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]