Iris narbutii explained

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.

Description

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.

Taxonomy

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]

Native

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.

Cultivation

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]

Known hybrids

In Russia, Vvedenskii had noted several natural hybrids including;

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Juno . flower.onego.ru . 9 October 2014.
  2. Web site: Peter . Taggart . Iris narbutii . 6 January 2010 . signa.org (Species Iris Group of North America) . 9 October 2014.
  3. Book: Cassidy . G.E.. Linnegar . S.. 1987 . Revised . Growing Irise . Bromley . Christopher Helm . 147 . 0-88192-089-4 .
  4. Web site: (SPEC) Iris narbutii Fedts. . 24 March 2010 . wiki.irises.org (American Iris Society) . 9 October 2014.
  5. Web site: Jim . Waddick . Juno irises J-R . pacificbulbsociety.org . 9 October 2014.
  6. Web site: Chris . Gardener. 18 April 2011 . Tajikistan & Uzbekistan, A Reconnaissance Report . 5 . greentours.co.uk . 9 October 2014.
  7. Web site: Iris . bulbsbirdsnmore.com.au . 9 October 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150130090547/http://www.bulbsbirdsnmore.com.au/Amaryllid_Obsession/Iris.html . 30 January 2015 . dead .
  8. Web site: Iris narbutii O.Fedtsch. . kew.org . 9 October 2014.
  9. Web site: V.L. . Komarov . 1935 . Akademiya Nauk SSSR (FLORA of the U.S.S.R.) Vol. IV . 430–431 . 9 October 2014.
  10. Web site: Iris narbutii . www.rhs.org.uk. 9 October 2014.
  11. Ahmad Hasan Dani and Vadim Mikhaĭlovich Masson (Editors)
  12. Web site: iris botanique . irisbotanique.over-blog.com . 13 October 2014.
  13. Web site: Chapter III bulbous iris . irisbotanique.over-blog.com . 13 October 2014 . https://archive.today/20141015100852/http://irisbotanique.over-blog.com/15-index.html . 15 October 2014 . dead .
  14. Web site: Jim . Almond . PLANT OF THE MONTH - OCTOBER . freespace.virgin.net . 9 October 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150609224400/http://freespace.virgin.net/almond.jim/Portraits.htm . 9 June 2015 . dead .