''Iris potaninii'' is a species 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 ...

'', it is also in the subgenus of ''

'' and in the ''Psammiris'' section. 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 ...

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

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

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, ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. It is a dwarf plant, having either subterranean or very small stems, long thin leaves and yellow, or dark violet to purplish blue flowers. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant in

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 ...

regions.

Description

Similar in form to '' Iris tigridia'' (within ''Pseudoregalia section'') and ''

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 ...

'' (another ''Psammiris section'' iris), but differs from bloudowii, in having an ob-conical, not prostrate rhizome. It differs from tigridia by having old leaf fibres on the rhizome.British Iris Society (1997) It also differs from ''Iris tigridia'' in leaf form, ''Iris potaninii'' has rounded ended leaves, which do not end in a point. It has thick, short and tough rhizomes. Under the rhizomes, are thick, fleshy and yellowish, secondary roots. also On top of the rhizome, are the curled, fibrous remains of last seasons leaves. It has linear basal (growing from the base) leaves, which are not pointed at the ends (or obtuse). They can grow up to between long and 0.2–0.4 cm wide, at blooming time. The leaves then lengthen, and by the time the iris has seed capsules, they are between long and 0.3–0.4 cm wide. It is a dwarf plant, having either subterranean, or very small stems or

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

s. They can reach up to between long. The pedicel (or dwarf stem) has 2 narrow, lanceolate (or oblong-lanceolate,) and (scarious) membranous spathes or

bracts 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 ...

(leaves of the flower bud). They are long and 0.6 cm wide. The stem (or pedicel) holds 1 terminal (top of stem) flower, between April to May (in Russia), or May to June. The flowers are in diameter, come in yellow, or dark violet to purplish blue shades. 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 obovate (in shape), with markings or veins around a central yellowish or whitish beard. They are long and 1.2–1.5 cm wide, and have curled up edges. The erect standards are oblanceolate, and are long and 0.8–1.0 cm wide. They also have curled up edges. It has a long perianth tube, which is thread-ilke. It also has 1.5 cm long

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s, purple anthers and a 0.7 cm long (spindle-shaped) ovary. It has a 2.8 cm long and 6mm wide style branch, which has a flat crest and toothed edges. After the iris has flowered, between June or July (in Russia), or between July and September, it produces an ellipsoid seed capsule. The capsule is long and between 1.3 and 1.5 cm wide, and has 6 longitudinal ribs and a short beak appendage (at the top). It dehisces (splits open) from the middle of the capsule. Inside the capsule are seeds which are 3 mm (in diameter), flattened globular, or pyriform (pear shaped), wrinkled, and reddish brown in colour.

Biochemistry

In 2002, a study was carried out on the rhizome of ''Iris potaninii''. It found several chemical compounds, including 2 new

isoflavones Isoflavones are substituted derivatives of isoflavone, a type of naturally occurring isoflavonoids, many of which act as phytoestrogens in mammals. Isoflavones are produced almost exclusively by the members of the bean family, Fabaceae (Leguminosae) ...

, 6, 3', 4'-trimethoxy-7 and 8, 5'-trihydroxyisoflavone. 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 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.

Genetics

In 2012, a genetic study was carried out on ''

Iris laevigata ''Iris laevigata'', known as Japanese iris, rabbit-ear iris, or shallow-flowered iris (Japanese: カキツバタ), is a species of flowering plant in the family Iridaceae, native to Japan. It is related to other members of ''Iris'' subgenus '' ...

'' and its from several closely related iris species, including ''

Iris ensata ''Iris ensata'', the Japanese iris or Japanese water iris (Japanese: ''hanashōbu''), formerly ''I. kaempferi'', is a species of flowering plant in the family Iridaceae, native to Japan, China, Korea and Russia, and widely cultivated as an ornam ...

'', ''

Iris setosa 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 ent ...

'', ''

Iris halophila ''Iris halophila'' is a species in the genus '' Iris'', it is also in the subgenus '' Limniris'' and in series '' Spuriae''. It is a rhizomatous perennial plant, with yellow, white or violet flowers. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant in te ...

'', ''

Iris scariosa ''Iris scariosa'' is a plant species in the genus '' Iris'', it is also in the subgenus '' Iris''. It is a rhizomatous perennial, from the mountainsides of Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China. It has sword-like, or sickle shaped, blue green or ...

'', ''Iris potaninii'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

'', and ''

Iris sanguinea ''Iris sanguinea'' is a rhizomatous flowering plant in the genus ''Iris'' and in the series '' Sibiricae''. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant in temperate regions. It is one of the species considered a Japanese iris. It is from Asia, found ...

''. 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 was counted in 1984 by Doronkin, as 2n=22. It is normally published as 2n=22.

Taxonomy

It has the common name of 'curl-sheath iris' (in China), or 'Potanin iris'.Jiaju Zhou, Guirong Xie and Xinjian Yan It is written as 卷鞘鸢尾 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 ''juan qiào yuān wěi'' in

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

in China. 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 ...

''potaninii'' refers to

Grigory Potanin Grigory Nikolayevich Potanin (alt. Grigorij Potanin) (russian: Григорий Николаевич Потанин; 4 October 1835 – 6 June 1920) was a Russian ethnographer and natural historian. He was an explorer of Inner Asia, and was the ...

(a Russian

ethnographer Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

and natural historian). It was found in western Kansu (

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 ...

) in 1876. It was first published and described by

Maxim. Carl Johann Maximovich (also Karl Ivanovich Maximovich, Russian: Карл Иванович Максимович; 23 November 1827 in Tula, Russia – 16 February 1891 in Saint Petersburg) was a Russian botanist. Maximovich spent most of his lif ...

in 'Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Pétersbourg' Vol.26 page528 in 1880. It was also published in 'Mélanges Biol. Bull. Phys.-Math. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Pétersbourg' Vol.10 page724 in 1880. In 1980's, it was thought to be part of the 'Pseudoregelias section', but it is still within the Psammiris section, in most sources. 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, ...

and the

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 and then updated on 10 April 2012. ''Iris potaninii'' is an accepted name by the RHS.

Distribution and habitat

''Iris potaninii'' 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 ...

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

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, within Siberia, in the states of Aga Buryat,

Buryatia Buryatia, officially the Republic of Buryatia (russian: Республика Бурятия, r=Respublika Buryatiya, p=rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə bʊˈrʲætʲɪjə; bua, Буряад Улас, Buryaad Ulas, , mn, Буриад Улс, Buriad Uls), is ...

, Chita (including Dahuria (or Transbaikal),) and Gorno-Altai. It is also found in China, in the

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

of Gansu,

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 ...

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 ...

. It is also though to be found in Mongolia, and

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, ...

Habitat

It grows on the rocky, gravelly or stony slopes, on dry hillsides, of mountains. They can be found at an altitude of above sea level.

Conservation

The iris is listed as 'rare', in

Red Data Book The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...

of the Altai region. One colony of the iris is protected within

Daursky Nature Reserve The Daurian Nature Reserve (Даурский заповедник ''Daurskiy zapavyednik'') is a Russian 'zapovednik' (strict nature reserve) situated in the southern part of the Zabaykalsky Krai in Siberia, Russia, close to the border with Mongol ...

(in Chita Oblast, Russia).

Cultivation

hardy, soil, sun, moisture, situation, pests, planting It is hardy in Russia, surviving winter in

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

without shelter. It is hardy in a sheltered place, in the UK. It prefers to grow in sunny positions, in well-drained soils. It has been tried in various botanical gardens within Russia, since 1992, in

Barnaul Barnaul ( rus, Барнау́л, p=bərnɐˈul) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative centre of Altai Krai, Russia, located at the confluence of the Barnaulka and Ob Rivers in the West Siberian Plain. As ...

, Chita and St. Petersburg. It could be grown within gardens, in a rock garden, or mixed borders.

Uses

''Iris potaninii'' has been used in traditional Mongolian herbal medicine, in the treatment of various diseases, including bacterial infections, cancers and inflammations. Also, some

benzoquinones Benzoquinone (C6H4O2) is a quinone with a single benzene ring. There are 2 (out of 3 hypothetical) benzoquinones: * 1,4-Benzoquinone, most commonly, right image (also ''para''-benzoquinone, ''p''-benzoquinone, ''para''-quinone, or just quinone) * 1, ...

have been isolated from Iris species rhizomes, and used as anti-cancer agents in modern Chinese medicines.

References

Sources

* Czerepanov, S. K. 1995. Vascular plants of Russia and adjacent states (the former USSR). * Komarov, V. L. et al., eds. 1934–1964. Flora SSSR. ists as I. potanini Maxim. * Mathew, B. 1981. The Iris. 40. * 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).

External links

*
has an image of the iris in flower

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q10910805 potaninii Flora of Mongolia Flora of Siberia Flora of Xinjiang Garden plants of Asia Plants described in 1880 Medicinal plants of Asia