The original poster must be wondering if there will ever be a response.....just wanted to chime in here and say that I've been trying every source I can think of to research this and have had no luck at all.

katie

I too tried a few searches to no avail. Perhaps a photo would bring some input, but this common name seems to be regional and obscure. Sorry.

Mike

I'm wondering if it could possibly be an iris relative, Hermodactylus tuberosa, commonly referred to as snake's head iris. I know common names can get "customized" by region and local preference. This one is supposedly because the buds resemble a snake's head, but it's a stretch for me and could just as easily be a turkey - I don't think the flowers or buds look like either one, but you never know ;-)

Here is a link that might be useful: snake's head iris

Just came across a reference to 'turkey iris' and thought you might be interested. From a review of Bulbs and Bulb Culture, Volume II (London, 1882) by David Taylor Fish, noted irisarien Clarence Mahan gives this comment:

"I found it curious that Fish calls Iris pallida the "pale Turkey iris," until I remembered that the Ottoman Empire of the Turks included the regions of the former Yugoslavia where I. pallida is endemic. When I looked in the 1939 Check List, I found that it even gives "Pale Turkey Iris" as a synonym for I. pallida."

I found this in an article in ROOTS, the bullietin of HIPS from 199. Could your seeds be from a bearded iris?

Mike