Merhaba from Bursa

After taking a ferry and bus from Istanbul to Bursa, we drove south toward Uşak. We spent several days in the foothills of Uludağ (which means sublime mountain and is Mount Olympus in mythology) and Murat Dagi. We were looking for I. attica and I. purpureobracteata but were surprised to find I. suaveolens at two sites instead. We stayed in several small towns in the region. In Bigadiç, the local doctor came to the hotel because he heard English speakers were in town. The hotel clerk made coffee on a small propane burner and we provided rolls. This sharing of food was repeated later with a man who was felling trees when the mountain road we were traveling on became impassable. Having only found one species south of Bursa, we moved southeast of Bursa in the area around Söğüt to continue our search. In this region we found I. purpureobracteata at a surprisingly low elevation growing in cracks on large rock slabs. In the evening before we had to leave this region, we found I. attica along a rural road. It was in a small, undisturbed site with oak, rhododendrons, orchids and tulips. Unfortunately I. attica was past flowering and it was nearly dark preventing me from obtaining good photographs.

Merhaba from Ezurum

We have been in Ezurum previously and are quite comfortable in this city. Our goal was to travel further NE than we had been before to see I. nezahatiae. We were driving along a rocky scree slope on the way to the I. nezahatiae area when I saw Iris leaves and flowers that were mostly past. We stopped to investigate. To our surprise a domas (small bus) also stopped and let out a man. The man had a basket of strawberries and gave us each a handful. We walked across the road with him and saw his small village along the river. There was a path to the village and we waved him along his way. There is a proposed dam project in this canyon and we suspect that this village will be inundated. After determining that this was I. furcata we continued on into a beautiful region with a rushing river, narrow canyon walls and waterfalls. Homes are perched precariously on the cliffs and there are signs advertising pensions for tourists. We found I. nezahatia on several rocky slopes in the canyon but it was finished flowering. After searching around for several hours we returned to Erzurum stopping to photograph I. taochia at a site we have visited in previous years. The next day we searched I. sibirica sites but could not find it. We are quite early for this species but we where we did find a subgenus Scorpiris species which is probably I. caucasica and also I. spuria subsp. musulmanica (which had buds but not yet flowers).