looks like loreley.

It sure does look like Loreley, with those open standards. Does it sometimes get flecks of the fall color on the standards?

Mike

Jain, thank you very much! From what I've seen by googling Loreley, you've hit the nail on the head.

Mike, although I've grown this iris before in the far distant past, this one is new to my current garden and this is the first bloom. Which means I can't really answer your question. I will get a few more blooms out of this one this year, so I'll keep an eye out for that. I take it the occasional purple flecking is a characteristic of Loreley?

Also, is it safe to assume that this is a germanica? Thanks a lot.

Janet's Garden

Yes, the random flecking of the fall color onto the standards is a trait that Loreley is famous for, as well as the wide open standards. Makes her very distinct and easy to ID.

'Germanica', or 'german iris', is a term not applied to irises anymore. In the old days it just meant 'bearded iris', but it has fallen out of favor in recent decades, just as has 'flags' as a term for irises. Just too inaccurate and misleading. There is an old collected variety named i. germanica, but this name should not be applied to the group pogon, or bearded, iris.

Mike

Mike, what would be the proper binomial then?

Janet,

If I remember right, I believe the correct labeling would be:
Iris x. 'Loreley' - "Iris" in italics, and the "x." indicating a hybrid, in normal font.

In irisdom, it is common to see cultivar names written in all upper case, though standard nomenclature rules dictate that cultivar names be enclosed in single quotation marks.

Hope this helps,
Diana

Yes, that does help, Diana. Thanks.

It is old and is called Gracchus.