Pollen parent: Moraea tulbaghensis with blue eye
The parents:
I've got to keep crossing these species; they always seem to produce interesting results. Two plants from this cross bloomed this year. I can't wait to see what comes up next year.
MM 12-122a. This looks very much like M. villosa. It'd make me suspect that the flower had self-pollinated, except for what bloomed next.
MM 12-122b. Purpley-orange with long inner tepals and a big blue eye. This one is definitely a hybrid, and as is the case for so many M. tulbaghensis crosses, the flowers are cupped so they don't display themselves well. But I like the color and am using this one in further crosses. Some day maybe I'll get a true red out of this process.
I found some discussion about some relatively simple tests to identify if iris flowers contain lycopene. It may be useful towards your goal of a true-red version of Moraea.
ReplyDeleteHi, Darren.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. Can you point me to those tests? I tried to find them online but couldn't find the reference.
Thanks,
Mike