Iris meda 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 ent ...

'', it is also in the subgenus of

and in the Oncocyclus section. It is from the desert mountains and hills of

Media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...

(which is now

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 ...

) and has long grey-green leaves with cream, pale yellow or yellow flowers, which have purple or dark brown patches and yellow beards.

Description

''Iris meda'' has small, about long,British Iris Society (1997) thin, stoloniferous-like rhizomes, and long secondary roots underneath the rhizome. It has upright, narrow, blade-shaped foliage, which are grey-green and long, and wide. The plant in total can reach between tall, with straight stems reaching high. It blooms between April and May, and has small flowers, that have a range of colour variations, that come in shades from cream or whitish ground color, lemon yellow to creamy straw-yellow ground colours. It is similar in form to '' Iris sari'', which does not grow in Iran and does not have folded falls. Like other irises, 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 standards are oblanceolate, long and wide. The falls are long, thin and either undulating, or curled over. They have a large chestnut-maroon-black, or dark brown or purplish signal patch in the centre of the petal. Also they have a dense, narrow 'beard' of long yellow hairs. They also have greenish yellow style arms which are veined near apex. After it has flowered it produces a seed capsule and seeds that have not been described.

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 of 2n=20.

Taxonomy

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 ...

''meda'' refers to

(a region of Persia). Similar to ''Apis mellifera meda'' (the Persian honey bee or Iranian honey bee). It was first found in Persia, and then described and published by Austrian born botanist Otto Stapf in Denkschr. Acad. Wein (Denkschriften der Akademie der Wissenschaften = Memoranda of the

Academy of Sciences An academy of sciences is a type of learned society or academy (as special scientific institution) dedicated to sciences that may or may not be state funded. Some state funded academies are tuned into national or royal (in case of the Unite ...

) vol.50 on page 20, (collected on the Bot. Ergeb. Polak. Exped. Pers.) in 1885. It is listed in the

Encyclopedia of Life The ''Encyclopedia of Life'' (''EOL'') is a free, online encyclopedia intended to document all of the 1.9 million living species known to science. It is compiled from existing trusted databases curated by experts and with the assistance of non ...

as ''Iris meda'', and it is a RHS accepted name of iris. 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 15 November 2002, then updated on 4 April 2003.

Distribution and habitat

It 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 temperate Asia.

Range

It is found in Iran. Within the region of

Mianeh, East Azerbaijan Mianeh ( fa, ميانه; az, Miyana, میانا; also Romanized as Meyāneh, Miane, Miyāna, Meyaneh, and Mīyaneh) is a city and capital of Mianeh County, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran. It is the fourth most populous city in East Azerbaijan p ...

Habitat

It grows on either stony clay, or sandy or gravelly soils, of dry hills, desert mountains, and Kurdish

steppes 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, ...

. At altitudes of between above sea level.

Cultivation

In the UK, it does not survive in cultivation as it needs dry conditions and very dry summers.

Hybrids

''Iris meda'' has the following two crosses; 'Amboy Agate' ('' Iris samariae'' X ''I. meda'') and 'Moleskin'.

Culture

In 1991, the government of Iran issued a set of

postage stamps A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

with the flora of Iran on them, which included "Iris meda".

Toxicity

Like many other irises, most parts of the plant are poisonous (including rhizome and leaves), and if mistakenly ingested can cause stomach pains and vomiting. Handling the plant may cause skin irritation or an allergic reaction.David G Spoerke and Susan C. Smolinske

References

Other sources

External links

* https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-iris-meda-native-of-persia-38474236.html Has image of ''Iris meda'' {{Taxonbar, from=Q5940486

meda Meda may refer to: Places * Meda de Mouros, a parish in Tábua Municipality, Portugal * Medas, a parish in Gondomar Municipality, Portugal * Meda-Ela, Sri Lanka * Međa (Leskovac), village in the municipality of Leskovac, Serbia * Meda, Lombardy ...

Plants described in 1885 Flora of Iran