Kingdom Plantae Family Iridaceae Tribe Irideae Rank Species | Order Asparagales Subfamily Iridoideae Genus Iris | |
Similar Iris clarkei, Iris forrestii, Iris delavayi, Iris grant‑duffii, Iris munzii | ||
Iris maackii is a species in the genus Iris, it is also in the subgenus of Limniris and in the Iris series Laevigatae. It is a rhizomatous perennial.
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It was first published (and described) by Karl Maximovich in 'Bulletin de l’Académie Impériale des Sciences de Saint-Pétersbourg' in 1880. It was published as 'Limniris maackii' in 'Botanicheskii Zhurnal' (Moscow & Leningrad) on 18 Apr 2007. But this was classed as a synonym of 'Iris maackii'. Whose name was accepted by Nina Alexeyeva in her book of 2008 'Genus Iris L.', written in Russian and published in Turczaninowia (journal).
It is known as 乌苏里鸢尾 or wu su li yuan wei in China.
The original collection consisted of seed pods only, later named as a synonym of Iris laevigata before being re-classified as a species.
Iris maackii is now an accepted name by the RHS. Although it is not an accepted name at Kew Gardens in the UK, it is thought to be very similar to Iris laevigata, especially its seeds and capsules. The Kew botanists currently call it 'Iris maackii', due to no other acceptable name.
It can be seen at the Arboretum and Botanical Garden, University of Bergen, Norway.
It is listed in 'Forest Vegetation of Northeast Asia'.
It is similar to Iris pseudacorus, in cultivation use and form. It is hardy to USDA Zone 6.
It can hybridize with many other irises.
Habit
Iris maackii has a thick rhizome.
It has several branched flowering stems (or scape) which can reach about 80 cm (32") tall in May. The oval shaped spathes are green (measuring 5 cm x 1.5 cm) and having between 1 and 2 flowers per stem. The flowers come in various shades of yellow, from creamy-yellow, to yellow. The flowers are about 5 cm (2 in) in diameter, with a perianth tube of 1 cm long. It has yellow anthers on 2.5 cm long stamens.
It has sword-shaped grey-green leaves, that grow up to 18" long, (or between 20–45 cm long and about 1 cm wide). The leaves have a fan-like appearance.
Between June and August, it sets seed. The capsules are ellipsoid-cylindric (6–9 cm long and 1.5 cm wide). They have 6 ribs and end in a beak-like point. Inside are maroon brown seeds that are about 7 × 5mm in size. The seed heads can be another garden feature of the plant.
Native
Iris maackii is native to moist soils near ponds and lakes from northeastern China into eastern Russia. Like Iris typhofolia, it can be found near to the Amur River and Ussuri River swamps, along the Russian/Chinese border. Also near East Heilongjiang, Liaoning in China.
It is found in damp places near ponds and lakes at altitudes of between near sea level, rising up to 300m (above sea level).