A friend has an iris that we are trying to id. It was a rescue iris i.e. someone was getting rid of their iris and this was one of them . Any and all help would be much appreciated. Can you help ?

It appears to be a case of being affected by weed killer...…..the "normal" blooms won't look like that

No, to my knowledge this is not the result of weed killer .......my friend has had this pretty and unusual iris for a number of years but now wondering it's name . Thanks for your thoughts though

That is a very odd bloom, I'll say.

I'd say the same thing ! but nevertheless an iris bloom. My first reaction at seeing the image was how much it looked like a Pickwick Crocus ! Gotta love Mother Nature......she is always throwing us a curve ball to keep us on our feet.

I have confirmed with my friend that this iris has not been hit by any kind of weed killer . Just thought I should mention this again now that I am 100 % certain.

It sure looks like a cross between a Crocus and an Iris... At first I thought it was a Photoshop trick!
I wonder if the rest of the blooms will look the same? Does it always bloom like this?

How tall is it? Do you have a photo of the whole plant?

I have never seen anything like it before.

The plant is 2 feet tall and is growing in a spot right beside another iris that is about 8 inches taller . She has had it blooming for three years. All blooms are identical to the images shown here and in the original image shown above .


Here is an image of the bloom forced full open by my friend . It normally appears as in the first image I posted I.e. with the three inner petals curved up and inward . This forced open bloom appears to resemble a few different types of iris blooms based on the configuration of the petals .




In trying to research this , I was gobsmacked at how little I knew about how many different kinds of species iris there are . Check out this link ......almost seemingly endless https://www.revolvy.com/page/L... (oh and it doesn't end at the point where it says "Continue Reading " )......... If you click that link there are almost as many more listed as in the first section of the list .

Oh and if this helps, my friend is located in Zone 7a

Here are a couple more images .

I'm afraid that I'm going have to agree with Arlyn. This odd bloom does looks like it has been affected by a weed killer, probably roundup. The faintest trace of it from a source hundreds of yards away can be potent. I have had similar situations before in my garden. In this picture you posted, it appears there are irises from the same clump that haven't been affected.

I agree with Ivor. Even though you may not use weed killer, your friend may have, or even could be as simple as some insect poison used around, and it nicked this variety.

Weed killer barely kills weeds, and kills everything else, including 50 year old oak trees.

As I said before , this is not my plant . It is growing in a friend's garden and she says that this plant revealed it's bloom 3 years ago, is still growing well , the bloom is always the same year after year. Here is what she wrote to me

"This plant is not the result of weed killer accident. It has bloomed for three years and is next to the iris in the attached photo. Not the best shot of its neighbor but if you enlarge it, you can see some veining in it as well. I know nothing about iris hybridization but have often wondered if this could have happened. Whatever, I do love its uniqueness. I hope you can find a name if there is one."

I am thinking it could be a sport ..................

She doesn't use chemicals in her gardens so I don't know what to say .

I personally have seen the affects of Roundup on various plants as I live in farm country and the local farmers use this stuff with abandon and on days when the winds are high so the spray travels ( they are not supposed to do this ) I have had the overspray affect my plants ......it stunts both leaf and bloom and I even saw leaves fuse together on my Catalpa tree from the overspray, (go ahead and ask if I am impressed !) but I have never seen it affect the coloring or markings on any blooms here and I grow about 40 varieties of iris and about 1500 named varieties of daylilies .

I would love to get a piece of this from her and try growing it in my gardens . Oh and the other irises where it is growing are at least 8 inches taller than this particular plant ( tall bearded iris ) as compared to this bloom which appears to be a standard bearded iris height.

I could be a seedling that started from a stray seed.

I am wondering if it is another kind of iris. Maybe she should check with AIS (American Iris Society) on this. Otherwise, it could be a new find!

Imstill have a hunch that *something* about this iris is wrong. I've not ever seen any bloom like that, BUT only one that was affected by weed killer. Perhaps it isn't weed killer, but you never know what could be causing it.

Perhaps also that it truly is a new and unique bloom that only coincedentally looks like the poison-hurt iris. Either way...it's very...unique....and I actually quite like it!

Very interesting mystery.

Monty ~ How are you feeling? Are you out of the hospital now?

I am, and have been home since 3pm. I don't feel great, though.

Monty ~ Take care of yourself and feel better soon!

I just came across this post and I think Tom is on to something. This does not look like an introduced iris and it apparently has been stable for three years. I have myself found that you can get really weird irises if you let the bees do the work.

Some years ago I had several serendipitous seedlings show up in my garden. One had small, quite stiff horizontal falls and they were cupped like this one. The weirdest thing was that it was a yellow green color, quite strange! At the time I had medians and tall bearded irises in my garden. Anyway, I kept it for a few years before booting it.