''Iris loczyi'' is a beardless

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants *Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional enti ...

in the genus ''

Iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants *Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional enti ...

'', in the subgenus '' Limniris'' and in the series '' Tenuifoliae'' of the genus. It is a

rhizomatous In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

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 a wide area of Asia, including

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

(the mountainous parts of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

and China. It has long thin grey green leaves, long stems and 1 flower in pale violet, blue violet, lavender or light blue.

Description

It was once thought to be a form of ''

Iris tenuifolia ''Iris tenuifolia'' is a beardless iris in the genus '' Iris'', in the subgenus '' Limniris'' and in the series '' Tenuifoliae'' of the genus. It is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial, from a wide region over central Asia, including Afghanistan ...

'', especially in China. It has a slender, fibrous, knobbly or gnarled, brown-black rhizome. It forms hard thick, tussocks or clumps of plants. On top of the rhizome are maroon-brown, fibrous (or straw-like), remnants (of last seasons leaves), as sheaths (of the new leaves). It has long and thin, linear, green-grey leaves, measuring long and 2-5mm wide. The leaves are sometimes evergreen. It has flower stems, that are long. They are sometimes only just above the ground level. It has 3 green, lanceolate, between long and 1.5 cm wide,

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 stems hold normally 1, (rarely 2) terminal (top of stem) flowers, blooming in late spring, between April and June. The fragrant, flowers are in diameter, and come in shades of pale violet, blue violet, lavender, and light blue. 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 falls are oblanceolate (top wider than the bottom) or slightly obovate, long and 1–2 cm wide. They are veined with a darker shade and have a white or cream (occasionally yellow), signal area (central area). The single coloured standards are also oblanceolate, erect, long and 7–8 mm wide. It has a long, slender perianth tube of long. It has very short pedicels. It has 2.5 cm long stamens and 1.2 cm ovary. It has short style branches, 4 cm long and 8 mm wide, in similar shades as the standards. After the iris has flowered, it produces a reddish-brown ovoid to cylindric seed capsule, long and 2 cm wide between June and September. The capsule has 6 veins, and a short beak-like appendage on the top.

Biochemistry

In 2008, a study was carried out on the

anatomical Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having it ...

structure of the leaf and drought resistance of 4 different species of Iris ('' Iris songarica'', ''

Iris potaninii ''Iris potaninii'' is a species in the genus ''Iris'', it is also in the subgenus of ''Iris'' and in the ''Psammiris'' section. It is a rhizomatous perennial, from Siberia in Russia, Mongolia and China. It is a dwarf plant, having either subterr ...

'', ''Iris loczyi'' and '' Iris lactea'') from

Qinghai Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...

, China. It showed that all the species were strongly adaptable to drought conditions. In 2013, a chemical analysis study was carried on ''Iris loczyi'' and ''

Iris unguicularis ''Iris unguicularis'' ( syn. ''Iris stylosa''), the Algerian iris, is a rhizomatous flowering plant in the genus ''Iris'', native to Greece, Turkey, Western Syria, and Tunisia. It grows to , with grassy evergreen leaves, producing pale lilac or p ...

'', as both plants are known as medicinally important. ''Iris loczyi'' contains the compounds 'Arborinone' and 'Irisoid A'.

Genetics

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

It is written as 天山鸢尾 in

Chinese script Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...

and known as ''tian shan yuan wei'' in China. It has the common name of ''Tianshan Iris'' (in China), or ''Tian Shan Mountain iris'' or ''Iris Lochan (or Iris Lochi)'' (in Russia). It was published and described by

August Kanitz August Kanitz (25 April 1843, in Lugos – 12 July 1896, in Kolozsvár) was a Hungarian botanist. While a student at the University of Vienna he wrote ''Geschichte der Botanik in Ungarn'' (Hanover and Budapest, 1863), and soon after, ''Versuch e ...

in ''Exped. Szechen'' (Növényt. Gyujtesek Eredm. Grof Szechenyi Bela Keletazsiai Utjabol) Vol.58. tab. 6. fig. 2. (with an illustration) in 1891. 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 ...

''loczyi'' honors 'Lajos Lóczy' (1849–1920) the Hungarian geologist and geographer, who participated in Count Béla Széchenyi's (the son of

István Széchenyi Count István Széchenyi de Sárvár-Felsővidék ( hu, sárvár-felsővidéki gróf Széchenyi István, ; archaically English: Stephen Széchenyi; 21 September 1791 – 8 April 1860) was a Hungarian politician, political theorist, and wri ...

) 1877–1880 expedition to Central Asia, western China, Japan, India, Japan, Java and Borneo. It was originally found in '' Ala Archa Valley'' of

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

. 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 2 October 2014. As of January 2015, it is listed as ''unchecked'' by the RHS.

Distribution and habitat

''Iris loczyi'' 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 ...

to a wide region, of various

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 found in the western Asia countries of

and

. Including; the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

regions of

Pamir Mountains The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan. It is located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the world ...

Tien Shan The Tian Shan,, , otk, 𐰴𐰣 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, , tr, Tanrı Dağı, mn, Тэнгэр уул, , ug, تەڭرىتاغ, , , kk, Тәңіртауы / Алатау, , , ky, Теңир-Тоо / Ала-Тоо, , , uz, Tyan-Shan / Tangritog‘ ...

(within Kometydavan Ravine and Se-chai River,) and

Baluchistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

(the mountainous parts of

and Iran). In the middle Asian countries of

, and

. It is listed with ''

Iris bloudowii ''Iris bloudowii'' is a species in the genus ''Iris'', it is also in the subgenus of ''Iris'' and in the ''Psammiris'' section. It is a rhizomatous perennial, from Russia, Siberia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China, with sickle-shaped leaves, slend ...

'', '' Iris psammocola'', '' Iris ruthenica'', '' Iris sibirica'', ''

'' and '' Iris tigridia'' as being found in the

Altai-Sayan region The Altai-Sayan region is an area of Inner Asia proximate to the Altai Mountains and the Sayan Mountains, near to where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together. This region is one of the world centers of temperate plant diversity. Its ...

(where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together). It is found in China, within the

Chinese provinces The provincial level administrative divisions () are the highest-level administrative divisions of China. There are 34 such divisions claimed by the People's Republic of China, classified as 23 provinces (), five autonomous regions of China, au ...

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...

Nei Mongol Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...

Ningxia Ningxia (,; , ; alternately romanized as Ninghsia), officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NHAR), is an autonomous region in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in ...

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

and

Xizang The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China in Southwest China. It was overlayed on the traditional Tibetan regions of Ü ...

Habitat

It is found growing on high mountain grasslands, (or

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate grasslands, ...

s) and sunny hillsides. It is widespread on the mountains of Central Asia. At altitudes of between above sea level. It is also found in clumps by the roadside in the Barskon Pass of Kyrgyzia.

Conservation

It is listed in the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

'Red Book' of the Republic of

Tuva Tuva (; russian: Тува́) or Tyva ( tyv, Тыва), officially the Republic of Tuva (russian: Респу́блика Тыва́, r=Respublika Tyva, p=rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə tɨˈva; tyv, Тыва Республика, translit=Tyva Respublika ...

as a species at ''vulnerable'' status. It was mentioned in (under the name ''Iris tianschanica'') in Czerepano's 'Vascular Plants of Russia and Adjacent States (the Former USSR)' in 1995. It is an endangered species in

Uglovsky District Uglovsky District is the name of several administrative and municipal districts in Russia. Districts of the federal subjects * Uglovsky District, Altai Krai, an administrative and municipal district of Altai Krai Historical districts *Uglovsky D ...

of Russia. Only 20 individuals were counted. Although the plants were not eaten by cattle, destruction of the habitat is the major factor in limiting its range.

Cultivation

''Iris loczyi'' is not common in cultivation in the UK, Europe, or Russia. It is normally only grown by botanical gardens or collectors. It is hardy in

Ashgabat Ashgabat or Asgabat ( tk, Aşgabat, ; fa, عشق‌آباد, translit='Ešqābād, formerly named Poltoratsk ( rus, Полтора́цк, p=pəltɐˈratsk) between 1919 and 1927), is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies ...

and

Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of ...

. It is tolerant of a wide range of temperatures. Like others in the ''Series Tenuifoliae'', it prefers sandy well drained soils. It prefers positions in full sun. It prefers to be kept dry during the winter, needing the protection of

bulb frame In agriculture and gardening, a cold frame is a transparent-roofed enclosure, built low to the ground, used to protect plants from adverse weather, primarily excessive cold or wet. The transparent top admits sunlight and prevents heat escape via co ...

s (in the UK).

Aphid Aphids are small sap-sucking insects and members of the superfamily Aphidoidea. Common names include greenfly and blackfly, although individuals within a species can vary widely in color. The group includes the fluffy white woolly aphids. A t ...

'' Dysaphis tulipae'' can be found on the plant.R. L. Blackman, Victor F. Eastop

Propagation

It can be propagated by

division Division or divider may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting ...

or by seed growing. But the seeds need to be scarified and the seedlings need a constant temperature of 25C°.

Uses

In China, it is forbidden to export plants or seeds. The reason is not known, but may be due to the medicinal usage of the plants.

References

External links

Russian webpage with many photos of Iris loczyi
*

Other sources

*Khassanov, F. O. & N. Rakhimova. 2012. Taxonomic revision of the genus Iris L. (Iridaceae Juss.) for the flora of Central Asia. Stapfia 97:175. *Mathew, B. 1981. The Iris. 122–123. *Rechinger, K. H., ed. 1963–. Flora iranica. *Waddick, J. W. & Zhao Yu-tang. 1992. Iris of China. *Wu Zheng-yi & P. H. Raven et al., eds. 1994–. Flora of China (English edition). {{Taxonbar, from=Q10939508 loczyi Flora of temperate Asia Tian Shan Plants described in 1891