From “Patterns and Colors of Tall Bearded Irises” in The Iris Book by Molly Price:
“The plicata pattern is said to have originated as a mutation, probably from Iris pallida. These are the ‘freckled’ irises. Plicatas are white or yellow, dotted, feathered, flaked, mottled, or stippled with a second color.
“Fancies are plicata patterns gone wild. ‘Gene Wild‘, intricately netted in rose-red on cream, and its even more richly hued child, “Ankara‘, are typical of the fancy plicata pattern.
“The most unusual examples of a new trend in the plicata pattern are the sparingly stippled white-and-medium-blue plicatas, ‘Moongate‘ and ‘Tea Apron‘. In both, the color is concentrated in the style arms and crests….
“The bicolor iris pattern, with standards of one color and falls of another, usually darker, color, varies from the subtle to the sensational: It includes the amoena and variegata patterns, and a scattering of varieties in other color combinations. The American Iris Society Color Classification makes a nice distinction in its definition of the term bicolor — those varieties in which the second color extends over more than one-half the area of the fall. (If the second color covers less than half the fall area, the variety is classed as a self.)
“The amoena pattern… always meant white standards and purple falls….
“This pattern now includes… strong medium blues as ‘Miss Indiana‘, with beginnings in pink and greenish-brown amoenas, and reverse amoenas with colored standards and white falls. Purple amoenas are effective in gardens. Desirable varieties are ‘Bright Hour‘ and ‘Elizabeth Noble‘.
“Because of unusual problems in amoena breeding very few varieties were produced until Paul Cook began to work on the problem. Mr. Cook tried an entirely different approach involving the use of a dwarf species. His methods were so successful that in 1962 his medium-blue amoena ‘Whole Cloth‘ won the Dykes Medal. It has already been superseded by his ‘Miss Indiana‘.”
From “Fragment 113” in Selected Poems by H. D. (Hilda Doolittle):
… ah, flower of purple iris,
flower of white,
or of the iris, withering the grass —
for fleck of the sun’s fire,
gathers such heat and power,
that shadow-print is light,
cast through the petals
of the yellow iris-flower….
Hello!
This is the first of three posts with images of irises with white standards and colored falls from Oakland Cemetery that I photographed this year.
This new series includes two posts with irises like the top two below, and one post with irises like the bottom two. The color patterns may look similar at first glance, but the top pair shows the amoena classification — where the standards are white and the falls, specifically, have purple tones. The bottom pair shows the plicata pattern where the standards are white and the falls show “stippled, dotted, peppered, or stitched markings against a lighter color.” Select the first image and page through all four to get a closer look at the pattern differences.
Of plicata and amoena, plicata may be the more familiar term, as it’s derived from “plicate” — a word used in describing textiles, fabrics, or clothing whose designs include folds or pleats. Amoena, on the other hand, is excluded from many general dictionaries and its use is primarily botanical. It was once assigned to what was believed to be a specific iris species — Iris amoena — and documented as such in volume 6 of Pierre-Joseph Redoute’s Les Liliacees in the early 1800s. You can see Redoute’s drawing of this iris here. After Iris amoena was determined to be an Iris x germanica hybrid rather than a distinct species, amoena was repurposed for the color combination of irises where — as Redoute’s drawing and my photographs show — the standards were white and the falls were shades of deep purple (and, as a result of later breeding efforts, shades of blue).
I’ve always found the combination of white and purple blossoms soothing in some way, even more so against the rich green of their stems and leaves. The amoena designation fits these irises well for another reason: the term Locus amoenus (where “amoenus” is a Latin word from which “amoena” is derived) refers to an especially pleasant place, scene, or landscape. So in the case of these white and purple irises, we have the amoena color classification for a group of irises located in what could be called a Locus amoenus — as shown in the first three images in my galleries below — where a particularly well-manicured, carefully designed landscape serves the purpose of peaceful observation and quiet contemplation, and also serves as a home for the amoena irises.
Thanks for reading and taking a look!
