Iris fosteriana
Iris fosteriana at Gothenburg Botanical Garden
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Iridaceae
Genus: Iris
Subgenus: Iris subg. Scorpiris
Section: Iris sect. Scorpiris
Species:
I. fosteriana
Binomial name
Iris fosteriana
Synonyms
  • Iris caucasica var. bicolor Regel
  • Juno fosteriana (Aitch. & Baker) Rodion[1]

Iris fosteriana is a species in the genus Iris, subgenus Scorpiris.

Iris fosteriana at Berne Botanic garden

It was named after Michael Foster (a known British Iris expert) by Dr Aitchison, and found in Pendjeh, Turkmenistan.[2][3]

First described in transactions of the Linnean Society of London in April 1888 and then published by John Gilbert Baker in Botanical Magazine in 1892.[4]

Iris fosteriana is an accepted name by the RHS.[5]

It has many similarities with other iris species in the Xiphium.[2]

Habit

It has a slim bulb (coloured cream) with a long thin neck. Below the bulb are tuberous roots that are white, thin and 6in long.[6] The fragile roots mean that the bulb does not take transplanting very well.[2]

In Spring, (March in the UK[2]) it has 1 or 2 long tubed flowers that are 4–5 cm (1.5 or 2in) wide with downward-turned rich purple (or deep purple)[7] standards and creamy yellow (or pale yellow[7]) falls.[8] The flowers do not produce any scent.[2] After flowering, it produces seeds, but there is no aril (coating) on the seed.[6] The seeds are cube-shaped.[9]

It has deeply channeled[6] mid-green leaves which have a silver edge.[8] Which start growing in early December. By March, they have turned grey near the base, and mid-green at the tops.[6] They reach between 4-8mm wide and grow up to 18 cm long.[7] The leaves when mature hide the stem.[6]

The plant reaches a total height of approximately 10–15 cm tall when in bloom.[7]

Best grown in the uk, in an alpine house or bulb frame.[8]

Native

Found in the sandy soils of Gulran, Afghanistan, at an altitude of about 4,000 feet.[2] It is also found on the dry steppes (750-2000m above sea level) of North East Iran,[6] near Kopet Dag mountain range.[10] Which also includes the former Russian state of Turkmenistan.[7][11]

References

  1. ↑ "Iris fosteriana Aitch. & Baker". www.theplantlist.org. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Foster, Michael (1945). "Bulbous Irises". Forgotten Books. pp. 44–45. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  3. ↑ Ray Desmond (25 Feb 1994) Dictionary Of British And Irish Botantists And Horticulturalists Including plant collectors, flower painters and garden designers, p. 258, at Google Books
  4. ↑ "Iris fosteriana". apps.kew.org. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  5. ↑ "Iris fosteriana". www.rhs.org.uk. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Juno Irises A-I". www.pacificbulbsociety.org. 30 March 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 "Iris fosteriana". 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  8. 1 2 3 Brickell, Christopher, ed. (1996). RHS Encyclopedia of Garden Plants. London: Dorling Kindersley. p. 522. ISBN 978-0-7513-0436-7.
  9. ↑ Cassidy, G.E.; Linnegar, S. (1987). Growing Irises (Revised ed.). Bromley: Christopher Helm. pp. 145–146. ISBN 0-88192-089-4.
  10. ↑ van den Brink, Marijn (April–May 2009). "Iran, Koppe Dag mountains". photos.v-d-brink.eu. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  11. ↑ Czerepanov, S. K. (3 Dec 2007)Vascular plants of Russia and adjacent states (the former USSR), p. 281, at Google Books

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