''Iris regis-uzziae'' is a species in the genus '' Iris'', it is also in the subgenus ''Scorpiris''. Also known as ''King Uzziae Iris''. Named after the 742BC King of Judah,

Uzziah Uzziah (; he, עֻזִּיָּהוּ ''‘Uzzīyyāhū'', meaning "my strength is Yah"; el, Ὀζίας; la, Ozias), also known as Azariah (; he, עֲזַרְיָה ''‘Azaryā''; el, Αζαρίας; la, Azarias), was the tenth king of t ...

. One translation of the Latin term 'Iris regis-uzziae' in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

is אִירוּס טוּבְיָה It is a bulbous

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 ...

. It was first described in notes from Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in 1978 by Prof.

Naomi Feinbrun-Dothan Naomi Feinbrun-Dothan (17 April 1900 – 8 March 1995) was a Russian-born Israeli botanist, who became part of the academic staff at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She studied the flora of Israel and published dozens of articles and several a ...

(an Israeli botanist). She also then described it in The Iris Year Book 1979. It can be seen in

Jerusalem Botanical Gardens The Jerusalem Botanical Gardens (JBG), originally planned as successor to the National Botanic Garden of Israel on Mount Scopus which, nevertheless, still exists as a separate entity, is located in the neighborhood of Nayot in Jerusalem, on th ...

. It also can be found at

Kew Botanic Gardens Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 ...

, but confusingly they call it 'Jordan Iris'.

Description

''Iris regis-uzziae'' has 1–2 pale-blue, lilac or very pale green flowers. They can also be described as blueish-white.Yitzchak Gutterman The falls are about 4.5 cm long. It flowers in early spring in January and February, after the leaves have emerged from the ground. The leaves have thich white margin. They reach about 4 cm when the bulb flowers. The 3.5–4 cm long greyish-brown oblong bulbs, grow about below the surface. They have fleshy-like roots. It has 4 mm long

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 ...

seeds. Compared to '' Iris aucheri'', it is smaller, has fewer leaves and has a yolk-yellow coloured crest. Compared to ''

iris nusairiensis ''Iris nusairiensis'' is a species in the genus ''Iris (plant), Iris'', it is also in the subgenus Iris subg. Scorpiris, ''Scorpiris''. It is a bulbous perennial plant, perennial from Syria, it has pale blue or white flowers. It is cultivated as ...

'', it has highest leaf is not dilated and its yellow crest has a white margin.

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 chromosomal count of 2n = 20, or 2n = 22 (Feinbrun 1978).

Native

It was found on north or west facing rocky slopes of Southern

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

and

Negev The Negev or Negeb (; he, הַנֶּגֶב, hanNegév; ar, ٱلنَّقَب, an-Naqab) is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southe ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

References

External links

Images of King Uzziae Iris
{{Taxonbar, from=Q6717172 regis-uzziae Plants described in 1978 Flora of Israel Flora of Jordan Flora of Palestine (region)