Moraea MM 12-121

Seed parent: Moraea tripetala
Pollen parent: Moraea loubseri

The parents:

The form of M. tripetala I used for this cross has a white eye and pale blue tepals. They hybrid has the shape of M. tripetala, but a very dark blue eye and royal purple tepals (they look darker in person than they do in the many of the photos). Also, the hybrids have long thready inner tepals, some shaped like tiny pitchforks. These plants offset very rapidly, so I had at least half a dozen of them blooming in a small space about eight inches across. That made it very difficult to reliably tag the different forms:

Here are three forms that I think I identified.

MM 12-121a. This one has straight inner tepals, with no pitchfork effect.

MM 12-121b. Here's a pitchfork form (the little bumps in the middle of the inner tepals). The outer tepals had trouble opening fully. Note fairly well-defined white rim around the eye in the second picture.

MM 12-121c. Pitchforks again. The flowers open more fully, but the white rim around the eye is mostly missing.

MM 12-121d. Lighter purple than its siblings.