Iris

Iris is a genus of flowering plants with showy flowers which takes its name from the Latin word for rainbow, referring to the wide variety of flower colors found among the many species as well as countless garden cultivars. more...

While Iris is the scientific name for the genus, 'iris' is also very widely used as a common name and refers to all Iris as well as several closely-related genera. Iris is also applied to a subdivision within the genus.

Description

There are many species of Iris, widely distributed throughout the north temperate zone. Their habitats are very varied and range from cold regions into the grassy slopes, meadowlands, stream banks and deserts of Europe, the Middle East and northern Africa, Asia and across North America. Elevation is of not much importance.

These are perennial herbs growing from creeping rhizomes (rhizomatous irises), or, in drier climates, from bulbs (bulbous irises). They have long, erect, flowering stems. These may be simple or branched, solid or hollow. These stalks may be flattened or have a circular transverse section. There are 3 - 10 basal, sword-shaped leaves growing in dense clumps.

The inflorescences are fan-shaped and contain 1 or more symmetrical, six-lobed, slightly fragrant flowers. These grow on a pedicel or lack a footstalk. The three sepals are spreading or droop downwards. They expand from their narrow base into a broader limb (= expanded portion), often adorned with lines or dots. The three, sometimes reduced, petals stand upright, partly behind the sepal bases. Some smaller iris species have all six lobes pointing straight outwards. The sepals and the petals differ from each other. They are united at their base into a floral tube, that lies above the ovary. The styles divide towards the apex into petaloid branches (see : pollination).

The most commonly found garden iris is the bearded variety, sometimes referred to as German Iris. Various wild forms and naturally occurring hybrids of Iris pallida and I. variegata form the basis of most all modern hybrid bearded iris. Median forms of bearded iris are derived from crosses between tall and dwarf varieties. Other iris types commonly found in garden are I. siberica and its hybrids (Siberian irises) and I. ensata and its hybrids (Japanese irises).

Cultivation

The bearded iris variety is for the most part the easiest to cultivate and the most easily propagated. They have become very popular in the garden. They grow in any good free garden soil, the smaller and more delicate species needing only the aid of turfy ingredients, either peaty or loamy, to keep it light and open in texture. The earliest to bloom are the dwarf forms of Iris pumila, which blossom during March, April and May; and during the latter month and the following one most of the larger growing 'tall bearded' varieties, such as I. germanica, florentina, pallida, variegata, amoena, flavescens, sambucina, neglecta, ruthenica and their modern hybrids, produce their flowers. Iris unguicularis (or stylosa) is a remarkable winter flowering species from Algeria, with sky-blue flowers blotched with yellow, produced (in the Northern Hemisphere) at irregular intervals from November to March, the bleakest period of the year.

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