This is the old fashioned heirloom purple colored German bearded iris that is a close cousin to Iris albicans. We believe it to be the variety Iris 'William A. Setchell'. An old name for this bulb is Iris germanica "Purple Iris." Its softball size blooms emit strong, honey sweet fragrance! Large and healthy tubers.
Although we're not sure of the EXACT provenance of this old fashioned purple iris, as there are many, we believe it to be this. We will continue to do our homework, but in the meantime, consider us as the old bulb pass-along authority. We want to get this GREAT bulb from it's "abandoned" status to "cherished" by you. For more information about old purple German bearded iris, we highly recommend Scott Ogden's book, Garden Bulbs for the South