Moraea MM 17-20

Seed parent: MM 13-138 (M. bellendenii X aristata)
Pollen parent: MM 13-195a (lurida X (aristata x villosa))

Now we're getting into some interesting stuff: second-generation crosses involving my bizarrely-colored M. lurida hybrids. These flowers generally bloom late in the season (as does M. lurida), but are more floriferous and more drought-tolerant than species lurida.

I was very curious to see how all of that lurida weirdness would combine with other species and hybrids. So far, the answer is that the weirdness continues, in interesting ways.

The hybrid you're looking at now brings together one of the lurida crosses with Moraea bellendenii. Although the seed parent is supposedly a cross between aristata and bellendenii, it looks a lot like pure bellendenii, and I suspect it may have selfed.

MM 17-20a. This one is very pale yellow, and the black eye of the pollen parent has been reduced to a little black chevron. Plus there are some faint veins, courtesy of lurida.

MM 17-20b. Welllll, this is interesting. The eye is reduced to a few dots (with a light spot in the middle), and there's an range blaze spreading from the central cup. Weird and precise-looking.