Iris boissieri

Iris boissieri (also known as the yellowbeard iris), is a species in the genus Iris, it is also in the subgenus Xiphium. It is from Europe, mainly Spain and Portugal. It has blue-purple (or deep purple) flowers with a yellow beard.

Iris boissieri
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Iridaceae
Genus: Iris
Subgenus: Iris subg. Xiphium
Section: Iris sect. Xiphium
Species:
I. boissieri
Binomial name
Iris boissieri
Synonyms
  • Iris diversifolia (Merino)
  • Xiphion boissieri (Henrinq.) Rodion [1]
  • Iris heterophylla Merino[2][3]

Description

It flowers in June.[4] It normally has only one flower per stem.[5] The flower is blue-purple (or deep purple),[5] with a yellow[6] or orange beard.[4] It grows between 30 and 40 cm tall. The leaves appear in spring.[6]

It is the only bearded iris in the 'Xiphion' section.[6]

Taxonomy

It is also known as the 'yellowbeard iris'.[2]

Named after Edmond Boissier (a Swiss botanist 1810-1885).[7]

In 1877, Mr A.W. Tait (from Porto, Portugal) sent the bulbs to Sir Michael Foster who grew them in the UK. It was first described in 1885 by Portuguese botanist Julio Augusto Henriques in Boletim da Sociedade Broteriana Vols. 1-28.[8]

It was also described by Mr Foster in 'The Gardeners' Chronicles' of 1887, vol. ii. page38.[2] It was then described in Curtis's Botanical Magazine 7097 in 1890 again by Mr Foster.[4]

It was verified by United States Department of Agriculture and the Agricultural Research Service on 4 April 2003 and then updated on 2 December 2004.[9]

Distribution and habitat

Iris boissieri is native to Europe.[9]

Range

It was originally found in the Serra do Gerês (a mountain range in Portugal), Northwest Spain,[6][9] within (Galicia).[1][10]

Habitat

It likes to grows in rocky shallow soils,[1] at an altitude of 2,000–3,000 feet (610–910 m) above sea level.[2]

Conservation

It was on the 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants.[1][11] It was listed on the European Red List of Vascular Plants in 2011 as Data Deficient (DD).[12]

Very few plants (less than a 1000) were found in Spain in 2004 and less than a 10,000 plants were found in Portugal. Also these numbers were gradually going down as well.[1]

Iris boissieri was listed on Annex IV of the Habitats Directive (of the European Union). It was therefore assessed as 'Critically Endangered'.[10]

Cultivation

It is best grown in a bulb frame.[6]

There is a specimen in the Kew herbarium, collected by Winkler in 1876.[2] There is also a specimen in the 'Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques' in Genève, collected in 1899.[13]

Hybrids and cultivars

Emily Jean Stevens (1900–1967) was a hybridiser of Iris boissieri and Iris juncea in the 1950s.[14]

References
  1. Ortiz, S.; Pulgar Sañudo, I. (2011). "Iris boissieri". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2011. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  2. "(SPEC) Iris boissieri Henriques". wiki.irises.org (American Iris Society). Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  3. "Iris boissieri Henriq. is an accepted name". theplantlist.org (The Plant List). 23 March 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  4. Lynch, RichardThe Book of the Iris, p. 161, at Google Books
  5. James Cullen, Sabina G. Knees, H. Suzanne Cubey (Editors) The European Garden Flora Flowering Plants: A Manual for the Identification, p. 259, at Google Books
  6. Cassidy, G.E.; Linnegar, S. (1987). Growing Irises (Revised ed.). Bromley: Christopher Helm. pp. 144–145. ISBN 0-88192-089-4.
  7. Stearn, William (1972). A Gardenerer's Dictionary of Plant Names. London: Cassell. ISBN 0304937215.
  8. "Iris boissieri Henriq". apps.kew.org. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  9. "Iris boissieri". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  10. "Species of the Day – Iris boissieri". natureology101.wordpress.com. 9 December 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  11. Kerry Scott Walter, Harriet J. Gillett (Editors) 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants, p. 678, at Google Books
  12. Bilz, Melanie; Kell, Shelagh P.; Maxted, Nigel; Lansdown, Richard V. (2011). "European Red List of Vascular Plants" (PDF). ec.europa.eu (Publications Office of the European Union). Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  13. "History: Type of Iris boissieri Henriq. [family IRIDACEAE]". plants.jstor.org. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  14. "Stevens, Emily Jean". www.teara.govt.nz. Retrieved 29 July 2014.

Other sources
  • Mathew, B. 1981. The Iris. (Iris) 135.
  • Tutin, T. G. et al., eds. 1964–1980. Flora europaea. (F Eur)

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