''Iris koreana'', also known as dwarf woodland Korean iris, is a beardless iris in the genus '' Iris'', in the subgenus '' Limniris'' and in the series '' Chinenses'' of the genus. It is a rhizomatous

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

from

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

Description

''Iris koreana'' is similar in form to (the larger) ''

Iris minutoaurea ''Iris minutoaurea'' is a beardless iris in the genus ''Iris'', in the subgenus '' Limniris'' and in the series '' Chinenses'' of the genus. It is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial of eastern Asia, native to China and Korea. It has been natura ...

'' and '' Iris odaesanensis'', (both are also from the Iris chinensis series).

William Rickatson Dykes William Rickatson Dykes (4 November 1877 – 1 December 1925) was an English amateur botanist who became an expert in the field of iris breeding and wrote several influential books on the subject. He was also interested in tulips, amaryllis, and ...

thought that ''Iris koreana'' was a larger form of ''Iris minutoaurea'',British Iris Society (1997) but ''Iris koreana'' is more robust than ''Iris minutoaurea''. It is also similar to the American woodland native, ''

Iris cristata ''Iris cristata'' (also known as dwarf crested iris and crested iris) is a species in the genus ''Iris'', it is also in the subgenus of '' Limniris''. It is a rhizomatous perennial plant, endemic to the eastern United States. It has pale lavend ...

''. It has slender rhizomes that are small, long, fine and have many branches (or stolons). Due to its spreading ability, it is thought it could be used as a ground cover plant. It has narrow, smooth, glossy green, and ensiform (sword-shaped) leaves, that are long than the flowering stems. They grow up to long and wide. The leaves have prominent veins and are faintly tinged red at base (near the rhizome). ''Iris koreana'' and ''Iris minutoaureas'' also have the habit of their foliage growing longer after they have flowered. It has an unbranched stem, up to tall. It has 2 terminal flowers (at the top of the stems), that bloom in early summer, between April and May. It has a perianth tube that is longer than the

spathe In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s (leaves of the flower bud). The flowers are small, about in diameter. They come in yellow shades, between bright yellow to pale yellow. It has 2 pairs of petals, 3 large

sepals A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

(outer petals), known as the 'falls' and 3 inner, smaller petals (or

tepals A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

, known as the 'standards'. The larger falls are obovate (egg or tear-drop shaped), held at a horizontal angle, have pleated edges and have brown markings on the hafts (the thinner part of the petal heading towards the centre). The smaller and shorter standards are paler (than the falls), almost erect (or vertical) and have a notch at the ends. The style branches are the same colour as the standards but narrow and acuminate (end in a sharp point). In June and July (after the flowers have faded), it produces green,

globose A sphere () is a geometrical object that is a three-dimensional analogue to a two-dimensional circle. A sphere is the set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three-dimensional space.. That given point is the ce ...

(spherical) seed capsules. Inside are obovate or occasionally circular, smooth, glabrous (without hair) and brown or dark henne coloured seeds. Which are long and wide.

Biochemistry

As most irises are

diploid Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Sets of chromosomes refer to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, respectively ...

, having two sets of

chromosomes A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

. This can be used to identify hybrids and classification of groupings.} It has a chromosome count: 2n=20.

Taxonomy

''Iris koreana'' is pronounced as ''EYE-ris kor-ee-AH-nuh''. It is written as 노랑붓꽃 in

Korean language Korean ( South Korean: , ''hangugeo''; North Korean: , ''chosŏnmal'') is the native language for about 80 million people, mostly of Korean descent. It is the official and national language of both North Korea and South Korea (geographic ...

. It has the common name of ''Dwarf woodland Korean iris''. The Latin

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''koreana'' refers to the country where it was found,

. It was first published and described by

Takenoshin Nakai was a Japanese botanist. In 19191919. Notulae and Plantas Japoniae at Koreae X XI. The Botanical Magazine (Tokyo) 33(395): 193–194. and 19301930. Plantae Japonicae & Koreanae. The Botanical Magazine (Tokyo) 44(526): 508. he published papers on ...

in 'Repertorium Specierum Novarum Regni Vegetabilis' (Centralblatt für Sammlung und Veroffentlichung von Einzeldiagnosen neuer Pflanzen. (Edited by Friedrich Fedde in Berlin), Vol.2 in 1914. It was verified by

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...

Agricultural Research Service The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the principal in-house research agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). ARS is one of four agencies in USDA's Research, Education and Economics mission area. ARS is charged with ext ...

on 4 April 2003. ''Iris koreana'' and '' Iris rossii'' are on the list of legally protected species, rare plants and endemic plants in the Dakibong and Bonghwabong regions of Korea.

Native

''Iris koreana'' is

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

areas of

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

Range

It is only found in Korea. It is found in various national parks (of Korea) including

Jirisan Jirisan is a mountain located in the southern region of South Korea. It is the second-tallest mountain in South Korea after Jeju Island's Hallasan, and the tallest mountain in mainland South Korea. The 1915m-high mountain is located in Jiri ...

Gyeongju Gyeongju ( ko, 경주, ), historically known as ''Seorabeol'' ( ko, 서라벌, ), is a coastal city in the far southeastern corner of North Gyeongsang Province in South Korea. It is the second largest city by area in the province after Andong, ...

Seoraksan Seoraksan is the highest mountain in the Taebaek mountain range in the Gangwon Province (South Korea), Gangwon Province in eastern South Korea. It is located in a national park near the city of Sokcho. After the Hallasan volcano on Jeju-do, Jeju ...

, Songnisan,

Naejangsan Naejangsan is a mountain located on the border of North Jeolla and South Jeolla provinces in southwestern South Korea, approximately three hours drive south of Seoul. It has an elevation of . National park Naejangsan forms the core of Naejangsan ...

Sobaeksan Sobaeksan (Sobaek Mountain) is a mountain of the Sobaek Mountains, in South Korea. It lies between Danyang County in the province of Chungcheongbuk-do and the city of Yeongju in the province of Gyeongsangbuk-do. It has an elevation of .Yu 2007 ...

Wolchulsan Wolchulsan (월출산) is a mountain located in South Jeolla province, South Korea, and spans both Gangjin and Yeongam counties. At its peak, Cheonhwangbong, it rises to 808.7 meters, making it the highest point in Gangjin County. It lies in a ...

and Byeonsan bando. One reference mentions that it is also native to China, but this might only mean cultivated and then naturalised within China.

Habitat

It prefers to grow in dry woodlands, and forests.

Cultivation

''Iris koreana'' is thought easy to grow in typical to dry

woodland garden A woodland garden is a garden or section of a garden that includes large trees and is laid out so as to appear as more or less natural woodland, though it is often actually an artificial creation. Typically it includes plantings of flowering shrub ...

conditions. It is

hardy Hardy may refer to: People * Hardy (surname) * Hardy (given name) * Hardy (singer), American singer-songwriter Places Antarctica * Mount Hardy, Enderby Land * Hardy Cove, Greenwich Island * Hardy Rocks, Biscoe Islands Australia * Hardy, Sout ...

between

USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

Zone 4a (-30 °F) and 8b. (15 °F). It prefers positions in part sun to light shade, and it likes soils that are moist (especially in the winter and spring), rich and between strongly acidic too alkaline. It can be propagated by division, cutting the rhizome into large sections to be re-planted. It can also be grown from seed, collected from the plant (after the flowering has finished), as the collected seed does not store very well, it is recommended to sow the seed as soon as possible. The iris is thought to be resistant to deer. It is only available from a few select specialty nurseries in the US. It is rarely cultivated in British gardens.

Hybrids and cultivars

There is a known cultivar ''Iris koreana'' 'Firefly Shuffle', which was hybridized by Darrell Probst of the Garden Vision Nursery in 2010.

References

External links

Other sources

* Mathew, B. 1981. The Iris. 79. {{Taxonbar, from=Q15571921 koreana Flora of Korea Garden plants of Asia Plants described in 1914 Taxa named by Takenoshin Nakai