Moraea MM 12-141

Seed parent: Moraea tripetala
Pollen parent: Moraea aristata

The parents:

This is turning out to be an interesting hybrid, with very variable colors. Unfortunately, the flowers are relatively small.

MM 12-141a. The seed parent was a small form of M. tripetala with intense purple tepals and a yellow eye surrounded by a white rim. The pollen parent is a white flower with a beautiful turquoise eye. As usually happens with M. tripetala crosses, the hybrid has the general form of M. tripetala. But the eye has turned blue, the style crests are halfway to white, and there's some hairiness at the center of the flower. The flower is not all that large, but I want to experiment with it some more because the color combinations are interesting. Only one plant bloomed this year, but as you can see from the twist ties in the background, I made several crosses on it.

MM 12-141b. Interesting. I almost never get two totally different tepal colors in a hybrid of two species. But form A is purple, and this one is white. That probably says something interesting about the genes of the two species, but I don't know enough genetics to say what it is. If anyone has thoughts, please post a comment.

MM 12-141c. Even better than form B. Note the dark purple coloration in the style crests, the dark inner tepals (the little pitchfork-shaped petals between the big white ones), and the nice radial purple streaks on the outer tepals.

MM 12-141d (chewed by a bug)