''Iris mariae'' (also commonly known as Negev iris or Mary's iris) is a species in the genus '' Iris'', it is also in the subgenus '' Iris'' and in the section ''Oncocyclus''. It is a rhizomatous

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 the deserts of Israel and Egypt. It is fairly tall, with long and slender glaucous leaves, and in late spring, lilac-purple to pinkish or violet flowers with deeper veining and blackish-violet signal and dark purple beard.

Description

It is a

geophyte A storage organ is a part of a plant specifically modified for storage of energy (generally in the form of carbohydrates) or water. Storage organs often grow underground, where they are better protected from attack by herbivores. Plants that have ...

,David Ward with a short rhizome. Around 3 cm long, and it is

stoloniferous In biology, stolons (from Latin '' stolō'', genitive ''stolōnis'' – "branch"), also known as runners, are horizontal connections between organisms. They may be part of the organism, or of its skeleton; typically, animal stolons are external ...

.British Iris Society (1997) Meaning it has several extremely long, secondary roots. It has 7–8,

glaucous ''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), g ...

falcate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular ...

(or sickle-shaped) leaves, that are long, and wide. They are very similar to ''

Iris iberica ''Iris iberica'' is a plant species in the genus ''Iris'', it is also in the subgenus ''Iris'' and in the section ''Oncocyclus''. It is a rhizomatous perennial, from the Caucasus mountains of Armenia, eastern Georgia, and western Azerbaijan. It ...

''. It has a stem that can grow up to tall. Which is taller than the foliage. It flowers in late spring, between February and March. The large flowers are in diameter,James Cullen, Sabina G. Knees, H. Suzanne Cubey (Editors) and come in shades of lilac, pinkish, or violet. 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 recurved and darker falls, are long and 2.5–3 cm wide, with reddish brown, or dark purple veining, and a blackish-violet or deep purple signal patch. In the middle of the falls, also is a row of short hairs called the 'beard', which is black, or purple. The upright standards are larger and paler than the falls, and long and 4 cm wide. After the iris has flowered, it produces a seed capsule.

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 of 2n=20. Two closely related iris species, ''

Iris atrofusca ''Iris atrofusca'' (Judean iris or Gilead iris) is a species in the genus ''Iris'', where it is placed in the subgenus ''Iris'' and the section ''Oncocyclus''. It is a rhizomatous perennial from the deserts of Israel and Jordan. The species has ...

'' and ''Iris mariae'', were found to be clearly divergent genetically and

phenotypically In genetics, the phenotype () is the set of observable characteristics or traits of an organism. The term covers the organism's morphology or physical form and structure, its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological proper ...

from each other.

Taxonomy

It is commonly called 'Mary's Iris' or 'Negev Iris'. It is written in Hebrew as איריס הנגב and in

Arabic script The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used writing system in the world by number of countries using it or a script directly derived from it, and the ...

as سوسن النقب It was named after

Mary, mother of Jesus Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...

, and is sometimes incorrectly called ''Iris mairiae''. It was originally found in Egypt, and was first named by William Barbey as ''Iris helenae''. Although, that name was already used by Karl Koch (botanist), Koch for another Iris so M. Barbey has recently withdrawn the name Helenae and the proposed that of ''Iris mariae''. It was then published by Barbey in Oesterr. Bot. Z. Issue 41 on page 207 in 1891. It was also later published in Gartenflora 42: 343 in 1893, Krel. 1898; Van T. 1900; Van W. in 1906 and the 'Year Book of Iris Society' (Yr. Bk. I.S.(E.)) 43. in 1933. ''I. mariae'' is an accepted name by the Royal Horticultural Society, RHS, and it was listed in the RHS Plant Finder in 2012. It was verified by United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service on 4 April 2003. and listed in Encyclopedia of Life.

Distribution and habitat

''Iris mariae'' is native plant, native to temperateness, temperate Asia.

Range

It is endemic to Israel and Egypt. Within Israel it is found in the Negev, Negev Desert, (including Tze'elim and Palestine (region)) and within Egypt on the Sinai Peninsula. Within IUCN Red Data Book of 2006 there are 6 threatened plant species found near Lake Bardawil, Egypt these include ''Astragalus camelorum'', ''Bellevalia salah-eidii'', ''Biorum oliveri'', ''Iris mariae'', ''Lobularia arabica'' and ''Salsola tetragona''.

Habitat

''I. mariae'' grows in sandy semi-desert, or desert sites. Within the deserts, it can be found in stable sand dunes, (in areas which have an annual precipitation in the range 100–200 mm, ) and Loess, loessial sand, with ''Artemisia monosperma''.

Conservation

It is becoming increasingly rare. but in Israel, it is protected by law, but still classed as 'endangered'. Unfortunately most of its populations are located outside nature reserves. It is threatened by illegal harvesting (for the cut flower industry,), climate change, urbanisation, and also from the impacts of modern agriculture.

Cultivation

In Europe, it is Hardiness (plants), hardy to Zone H4, meaning hardy to -5 to -10oC (23 to 14oF) It usually requires very good drainage, restricted water and protection from frosts, although keeping it barely dry during the winter, will make it more cold tolerant. The seed of the iris is deemed easy to germinate but growers should have some experience in growing others in this group of Irises. The seed can be also grown using in-vitro seed germination.

Toxicity

Like many other irises, most parts of the plant are poisonous (rhizome and leaves), and if mistakenly ingested can cause stomach pains and vomiting. Also, handling the plant may cause skin irritation or an allergic reaction.

Variations

Known ''Iris mariae'' cultivars: 'Barnumae Mariae'
Known Hybrids; ''Iris mariae'' crosses include; ''Iris mariae'' × ''Iris atropurpurea'' ; 'Brown Prince', 'Spiced Coffee' ''Iris mariae'' × ''Iris hermona'' ; 'Goren', 'Sa'ar' ''Iris gatesii'' × ''Iris mariae'' - 'Desert Gem' (''Iris mariae'' × ''Iris lortetii var. samariae, Iris samariae'') × self - 'Adva' ''Iris darwasica'' × ''Iris mariae'' - 'Hesperia' ''Iris korolkowii'' × ''Iris mariae''; 'Andromache', 'Artemis', 'Aspasia', 'Dido', 'Eurydice', 'Flora', 'Massilia', 'Medusa' and 'Una', Oncogelia × ''Iris mariae'' - 'Bagdad Bauble' Regeliocyclus × ''Iris mariae'' - 'Saraglen'

Uses

In 1970, a Postage stamp, stamp series named 'Israeli Wild Flowers' was issued by Israel to celebrate Independence Day (Israel), Independence Day, it included ''Iris mariae''. Then in February 2013, an ATM Label Negev Iris was produced, which has an image of the iris on it.

References

Other sources

* Boulos, L. 1995. Flora of Egypt checklist. * Danin, A. 2004. Distribution atlas of plants in the Flora Palaestina area. * Mathew, B. 1981. The Iris. 54–55. * Sapir, Y. et al. 2002. Morphological variation of the Oncocyclus irises (Iris: Iridaceae) in the southern Levant. Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 139:369-382. * Zohary, M. & N. Feinbrun-Dothan. 1966-. Flora palaestina.

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6718700 Iris (plant), mariae Flora of Asia Garden plants of Europe Plants described in 1891 Flora of Israel Flora of Palestine (region) Flora of Egypt