Tall Bearded Iris Frere De Messire (For my File) & Gnarly

For Gnarly gnome. This Iris has 4 petals and 4 sepals. GRAND CANYON GOLD is the only one I know of that has this characteristic, about 75% of the time on the terminal bud. Look at the colouring in the French catalogue, is the same on the multiple picture page as ours.
Now is your Frere, the real Frere or the same as mine except you are the 25% without 4x4 this year, to do with soil fertility apparently.
Has your flower actually got stamens? Mine hasn't on this terminal bud. It will be interesting to see if the normal flowers lower down have stamens.

Bearing in mind the French go out for a boozy Sunday lunch, I can query if our Freres came from the same clump.

I will have a look for stamens and get back to you I thought 4 petals as well lol ....

"soil fertility apparently" is your's too rich or poor ?

Gg

It has three stamens .....

Gg

Too rich. So I need to see if my Frere? (Sure it's G. C. Gold)secondary flowers which are stated to be 3 x3 as normal, have stamens.

Second bud opened today, normal configuration with anthers which were lacking in the terminal flower.

Stunning.

This is gorgeous. So fruity. Like orange and blackcurrant fruit pastilles..my favourite combination! Yum!

Thank you Karen.
Gnarly, It is apparently Frere, with abnormal growth in the apical bud, can be caused by various factors. Thinking back to last year I had a Japanese Anemone with variegated leaves and a fascinated stem. Not this year, and I disposed of it.