The seed parent, MM 13-34, was a disappointment. The cross of two sibling hybrids, I was expecting it to look very exotic, but instead it reverted almost exactly to the look of M. calcicola. I made the cross you see here as a casual experiment, and it really paid off -- the hidden genetic diversity in MM 13-34 produced a wide range of interesting offspring.
Most of these flowers have little or no eye, but the differences in tepal shape and the combinations of yellow, orange, and purple fascinate me. The color-wash effect of M. neopavonia "sunrise" is evident on every flower, but the base color changes from orange to purple in different crosses.
Some of these flowers remind me a bit of Calochortus weedii, a Californian plant that has similar color patterns in some of its varieties.
MM 13-34a. The flower was floppy on the day I photographed it. I'm not sure if that's a general problem of the plant, or if I just happened onto an old flower.
MM 13-34b. I like the reddish blush where the purple and orange intersect, and the intricate stippling in the cup is interesting.
MM 13-34c. A little more conventional-looking, but check out the striking difference in the cup color: The inner tepals are yellow, while the outer ones are almost black.
MM 13-34c (2). I accidentally marked two different flowers as form C. I'll sort that out next year. Meanwhile, note the yellow color on the backs of the tepals (you can see it at the outer edges where the tepals curl over).
MM 13-34d. Another one with yellow inner tepals. Look how narrow the outer tepals are on this one compared to some of the other flowers, which are almost cup shaped.
(MM 13-34e. Photo appears to be missing.)
MM 13-34f. Photos taken in twilight, with and without flash.
MM 13-34g.
Some more seedlings without assigned letters:
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