IRIS PLANIFOLIA

Family and Genus:- See- IRIDACEAE/Subgen. XIPHION/Sect. JUNO

Common Names:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- Iris alata

Meaning:- Iris (L) After Iris, the mythological messenger of the gods of the

rainbow.

Planifolia (L) Having flat leaves.

Bulb:-

1) Cylindrical, invested by numerous membranous leaf-bases.

Stem:-

1) Very short and subterranean.

Leaves:-

1) 100-300 x 10-30 mm, numerous, all basal, shiny-green, produced in a fan,

canaliculate, not flat, tapered, undulate, more or less recurved.

Flowers:-

1) 1(-3), blue to violet, rarely white; pedicel very short at anthesis,

elongating in fruit. Flowering in winter.

2) Spathes, c.100 mm, more or less hidden by the leaves.

3) Hypanthial tube, 100-200 mm, whitish.

4) Falls, 50-80 x 20-30 mm.

5) Standards, 20-25 x 7-10 mm.

6) Style-branches, almost as long as the falls.

Fruit:-

1) A capsule.

2) Seeds, ovoid or pyriform, rugose, dark reddish-brown.

Key features:-

1) Stock a bulb.

2) Leaves, not isobilateral; lower leaves 10-30 mm wide.

3) Roots, fleshy, persistent in the dormant season.

4) Standards, patent, less than ½ as long as the falls.

5) Flowering in winter.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Rocky and grassy, exposed habitats, open scrub, mainly in the hills and

lower mountains. 300-650 m.

Distribution:- Portugal, S Spain, N Africa, Sardinia, Sicily. Rare on Crete, grows

only in the extreme south-west of Crete in rocky places.

Flowering time:- Dec to early Mar.

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis