Iris relicta
| Iris relicta | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Iridaceae |
| Subfamily: | Iridoideae |
| Tribe: | Irideae |
| Genus: | Iris |
| Subgenus: | Iris |
| Species: | Iris relicta |
| Binomial name | |
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Iris relicta Colas. |
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| Synonyms | |
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Iris relicta is a species in the genus Iris, it is also in the subgenus of Iris. It is a rare rhizomatous perennial, from the mountains of Italy. It is medium sized, with purple flowers and white beards. It is rarely cultivated as an ornamental plant in temperate regions. It has had a confusing history, once thought as a variety of Iris germanica, then as a separate species with a name shared with another bearded iris. It has only been sorted out since 1996.
It is similar in form to Iris germanica.
It is classed as a medium sized bearded iris, and grows up to between 30–40 cm (12–16 in) tall. It has a branched stem.
Like other irises, it has 2 pairs of petals, 3 large sepals (outer petals), known as the 'falls' and 3 inner, smaller petals (or tepals), known as the 'standards'. The flowers come in shades of purple, from red-purple, to blue-purple. In the centre of the falls is a 'beard', or line of white hairs.
After the iris has flowered, it produces a seed capsule, that has not been described.
As most irises are diploid, having two sets of chromosomes, this can be used to identify hybrids and classification of groupings. It has a chromosome count of 2n=40. It was counted by Colasante & Sauer in 1993 and by Colasante in 1996.
It is the same as Iris setina, Iris bicapitata, Iris lutescens and Iris revoluta.
The Latin specific epithet relicta refers to a remnant, primitive, left behind and relict. This name was chosen due to the diminishing size of the population of irises found on the mountains in Italy.
It was first published and described by Nicola Terracciano (1837–1921) as Iris germanica var. suaveolens in 'Atti dell' Accademia delle Scienze Fisiche e' Matematiche (Atti Accad. Sci. Fis.) series 4, (Appendix 2) on page 7 in 1890, as a variety of Iris germanica. It was then published as Iris suaveolens by (N. Terracc.) N. Terracc. ex A. Terracc in 'Nuovo Giorn. Bot. Ital.', series. 2, on page182 in 1894. But this name was rejected by other authors and iris authorities as it was already used by another iris species, since 1853.
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