Moraea MM 15-122

Seed parent: Moraea atropunctata
Pollen parent: Moraea longiaristata (?) with blue spots

This cross of two spotted flowers has been one of my most exciting and also most frustrating recent hybrids. The exciting part: Hey, just look at these flowers! The frustrating part: They're all almost completely infertile. Their pollen looks like dried paint, and they generally refuse to set seeds. I'll keep trying, though.

Before I dive into the individual plants, here are a couple of group portraits:

MM 15-122a

MM 15-122b

MM 15-122c

MM 15-122d

I originally thought this was a different cross, but now that I look at the photos together, I think it's the same as form d.

MM 15-122e. When I first saw this flower, I thought "that's a lot of spots!"

I have this one listed as 15-122e as well, but actually I think it's a separate hybrid with what you'd think would be the ultimate number of spots...

But that brings us to the next flower...

MM 15-122f. I don't even know what to say about this one. The spots on the tepals overlap, but because the spots have slightly different colors, they look like an impressionistic picture painted in watercolors. The colors look even better in person than they do in this photo.

According to my records, as of 2022 the meagre pollen from this flower has set viable seeds on two crosses. I'll have to wait for them to bloom in order to know for sure if the crosses worked.

Photo by Garry Knipe

MM 15-122g

MM 15-122h. At some point you have so many spots that the flower is solidly colored. I like the white eyes on this flower.