2019 Sydney B. Mitchell Medal

The American Iris Society

Announces

The Sydney B. Mitchell Medal 2019

‘Da Vinci Code’

'Da Vinci Code'--image by Leonine Iris

'Da Vinci Code' (Joseph Ghio, R. 2010) Seedling #IP-159E3. CA, 12" (30 cm). Late midseason bloom. Standards white veined blue on inside; falls white, blue across haft, dark blue veining to solid blue edge, blue signal. 'Like Clockwork' X seedling #FP-265U, 'Foggy Days' sibling. Bay View 2010.

This medal is restricted to Pacific Coast Native (PCN) irises. It is named in honor of Sydney B. Mitchell (1878-1951). Prof. Sydney Mitchell was an educator. He became Acting Librarian at the University of California during WW I, and later founded and became first director of the Graduate School of Librarianship at that university. He was also one of the organizers of the American Iris Society. Tom Craig wrote this of him: "Sydney looked upon plant breeding as a long term international effort in which individuals from all over the world should co-operate and add generation after generation to a real human achievement. He made me feel a real part of this and more particularly a part of a special work started by William Mohr and carried on by himself. Sydney generously gave flowers and plants of seedling for further encouragement with this work."

Mitchell was also interested in the native irises of the West Coast, and promoted them at every opportunity. He took great pride in the plantings of PCNs in his own garden. He had a large collection of various forms of I. innominata and I. douglasiana.

The World of Irises blog will be posting once a day all of the medal winners. The entire list of winners can be found at the AIS website, the AIS Encyclopedia and later in the AIS Bulletin, IRISES.