Black Iris

These live outside of my apartment building. They are a tad past their prime, but I still think they're neat. The Black Iris is the flower of Jordan. It's illegal to pick them. These came from a nursery in Amman. The man who sold them to the folks in my building told them that they came from a person who was cultivating them and who went out of business. He sold his stock to the nursery owner. Possibly believable.
At lunch the other day I asked the people who have been here longer then me where and when I can go to see them in the wild. C told me a funny story about trying to do this last year. A few people here got into the car and headed out to find Irises. As they headed into a hairpin turn they saw a man come up from off of the road with an arm full of Black Irises. They continued on, and saw no more. So, people here for last year's flowers only saw a man illegally harvesting them from a hairpin turn.
On Monday W and I are going with Crazy Neal up to Ajiloun in search of flowers. CN told us that there are tons of flowers up there, and tons of Byzantine sites. We will go to see both. Wish us luck. This picture may be the only one I have of these flowers for the year.