Tribe Irideae Rank Species | Subfamily Iridoideae | |
People also search for Iris maracandica, Iris kuschakewiczii | ||
Iris narbutii top 6 facts
Iris narbutii is a species in the genus Iris, it is also in the subgenus of Scorpiris. It is a bulbous perennial. It is sometimes misspelt as 'Iris narbuti'.
Contents
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. It was later published as 'Iris Narbutii' by Boris Fedtschenko in Bull. Jard. Bot. St. Petersb. Vol.V page157 in 1905.
Iris narbutii is now an accepted name by the RHS.
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.
It can be seen growing in the 'Le Grand Clos Botanique Garden' in Bourgueil, France.
It can be cultivated in pots, or in well drained soils in sunshine (like other Juno irises).
Habit
Iris narbutii has a brown bulb with papery tunic, the bulb is approx. 2 centimetres (0.79 in) in diameter. It has thickened roots, which look similar to fat short pointed tubers.
One of the shorter Juno irises, similar to Iris Lepthoriza, only growing to a height of 5–10 cm (2.0–3.9 in).
It blooms in early-mid spring, flowering between January to April depending on the weather conditions. It has 1 or 2 scentless flowers per bulb stem.
The flowers come in a range of shades between greenish-yellow to pale violet. The green-purple perianth tube is about 4–5 cm (1.6–2.0 in) long. It has standards (3.5–5 cm or 1.4–2.0 in) that hang downwards. 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. The yellow zone can sometimes have a dark purple ring around it.
It has whitish pollen.
The thin, channelled dark green leaves emerge before the flowers, they are 5–25 mm wide (close to the base of the plant). They gradually narrow to an apex (falcate-like, lanceolate) and have a very visible white edging/margin.
Native
Iris narbutii is from Central Asia. Originally found on the slopes of Syr-Darya river valley.
It is found on the rocky, gravelly slopes of the mountains of western Tien Shan and southern Pamir Mountains. Also seen near to Samarkand and Tashkent.
Olga Fedtschenko had speculated that the plants from west Tien Shan, could be a separate species, due to their paler colour.
In Chulbair Mountains, Uzbekistan, it is a threatened species and close to extinction.
Known hybrids
In Russia, Vvedenskii had noted several natural hybrids including; J. narbutii x J maracandica (near Jizzak, Uzbekistan), J. narbutii x J. Orchioides and J. narbutii x J. subdecolorata (near Darbaza, Kazakhstan).