Iris narbutii is a species of flowering plant in the genus Iris, subgenus Scorpiris. It is a bulbous perennial from Central Asia. It has dark green leaves, short stems, spring flowers in shades of greenish-yellow to pale violet.
Iris narbutii has a brown bulb with papery tunic, the bulb is approx. in diameter.[1] It has thickened roots, which look similar to fat short pointed tubers.[2] The thin, channelled dark green leaves emerge before the flowers, they are 5–25 mm wide (close to the base of the plant).[1] They gradually narrow to an apex (falcate-like or lanceolate), and have a very visible white edging/margin.
One of the shorter Juno irises, similar to Iris leptorrhiza, only growing to a height of .[3]
It blooms in early-mid spring,[1] flowering between January and April depending on the weather conditions. It has 1 or 2 scentless flowers per bulb stem.[1] [3]
The flowers come in a range of shades from greenish-yellow to pale violet.[3] The green-purple perianth tube is about long.[1] It has standards that hang downwards.[4] [5] It has falls that start upright, but then the blade bends downwards, with a dark violet blotch at the tip. They have a raised white crest surrounded by a yellow zone/area.[3] [5] The yellow zone can sometimes have a dark purple ring around it.[1]
It has whitish pollen.
It is sometimes misspelt as 'Iris narbuti'.[6] [7]
It was first published as Juno narbutii by Olga Fedtschenko in 'Izvestiya Imperatorskago Obscestva Ljubitelej Estestvoznanija, Antropologii i Etnografii, Sostojascago pri (Imperatorskom) Moskovskom Universitete' in 1902.[8] It was later published as Iris narbutii by Boris Fedtschenko in Bull. Jard. Bot. St. Petersb. Vol.V on page 157 in 1905.[9]
Iris narbutii is now an accepted name by the RHS.[10]
It is listed in 1995 in 'Vascular plants of Russia and adjacent states (the former USSR)' by Czerepanov, S. K.
It may have been named after 'Narbuta Beg'(1774-1798), a grandson of 'Abd al-Karim' (Khanate of Kokand) of the Fergana Valley, Central Asia, where the iris was found.[11]
Iris narbutii is from Central Asia.[3] [5] Originally found on the slopes of Syr-Darya river valley.[9] [4]
It is found on the rocky, gravelly slopes of the mountains of western Tien Shan and southern Pamir Mountains.[1] Also seen near to Samarkand and Tashkent.[9]
Olga Fedtschenko had speculated that the plants from west Tien Shan, could be a separate species, due to their paler colour.[9]
In Chulbair Mountains, Uzbekistan, it is a threatened species and close to extinction.
It can be seen growing in the 'Le Grand Clos Botanique Garden' in Bourgueil, France.[12]
It can be cultivated in pots,[13] or in well-drained soils in sunshine (like other Juno irises).[14]
In Russia, Vvedenskii had noted several natural hybrids including;