''Iris hermona'', the Golan iris, is a plant 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 section ''Oncocyclus''. 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 ho ...

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 pastures and meadows of the

Golan Heights The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between di ...

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 ...

and

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. It has linear, upright leaves, tall slender stem holding a bi-coloured flower, having a pale lilac, cream-yellow, light tan, or white background, which is then covered in purple brown, or purple, or purple-pink veining, spots or speckling. It has a round purple-brown or almost black signal patch, and a sparse purple brown or almost black beard. It is rarely 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, as it needs very dry conditions during the summer.

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 ...

, with a stout compact rhizome.British Iris Society (1997) Which separates it from ''

Iris bismarckiana ''Iris bismarckiana'', the Nazareth 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, from the mountainsides of Israel, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. It ...

'' (another Oncocyclus Iris), with a similar flower form and other morphological characters, but which has a stoloniferous rhizome. It has 9 leaves, which are linear, straight and erect. Compared to '' Iris westii'' (another Oncocyclus Iris), which are short and curved. The leaves can grow up to between long and 1.8 cm wide. It has a slender stem or peduncle, that can grow up to between tall. The stems hold terminal (top of stem) flowers, blooming early in the season, between March and April, or between April to May (in the UK). The flowers are between in diameter, they are considered to be the largest single flower in Israel. They are bi-coloured, and are pale lilac, creamy, cream-yellow, light tan, or white background. They are then covered in purple brown, or purple, or purple-pink, veining, spots or speckling. 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 falls are obovate and very recurved, and they measure long and wide. The colour and thickness of the veining or speckling can vary. In the centre of the petal is a signal patch, which is orbicular (round), purple-brown, or almost black, and 1.2 cm long and 1.5 cm wide. Also in the middle of the falls, a row of short hairs called the 'beard', which is sparse and has purple brown, or almost black hairs. The standards are sub-orbicular and they measure long and wide. They are paler than the falls. It has cream, or yellow anthers, with purple filaments, and creamy white style branches. Compared to ''

Iris atropurpurea ''Iris atropurpurea'', the coastal iris ( he, אירוס הארגמן, ''Irus HaArgaman'', meaning "Purple Iris"; ar, سوسن أرجواني داكن, ''Sawsan argwānī al-dākin'') is a species in the genus ''Iris'', it is also in the subgenu ...

'' and ''

Iris haynei ''Iris haynei'', the Gilboa iris, is a plant species in the genus ''Iris'', subgenus ''Iris'' and section ''Oncocyclus''. It is a rhizomatous perennial, from the shrublands and mountainsides in Palestine, in Samaria and Israel, in the Gilboa mou ...

'', it has a very short flowering time of between (3.6 ± 0.8 days). After the iris has flowered, it produces a seed capsule, which has not yet been described.

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, similar to other Oncocyclus irises.

Taxonomy

It is commonly known as 'Golan Iris', 'Hermon Iris', or 'Mt. Hermon iris'. It is also written 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 ...

as אִירוּס הַחֶרְמוֹן, and written in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

as سوسن جبل الشيخ. 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 ...

''hermona'' refers to

Mount Hermon Mount Hermon ( ar, جبل الشيخ or جبل حرمون / ALA-LC: ''Jabal al-Shaykh'' ("Mountain of the Sheikh") or ''Jabal Haramun''; he, הַר חֶרְמוֹן, ''Har Hermon'') is a mountain cluster constituting the southern end of the ...

, between Israel and Syria, although most of the currant plants are found in the Golan Heights. It was first found in Kunaytrah,

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

, in 1912, and described by

Wilhelm Bacher Wilhelm Bacher ( hu, Bacher Vilmos; yi, בִּנְיָמִין־זְאֵב בּאַככֿר, he, בִּנְיָמִין־זְאֵב בכר ''Benjamin Ze'ev Bacher''; 12 January 1850 – 25 December 1913)John E. Dinsmore in 'Flora of Syria, Palestine, and Sinai' (edited G. E. Post) by Vol.2 on page 596, in 1933. It was also published in 1934 in Fasc. II. 8 (Publ. Am. Univ. Beirut, Nat. Sc. Series No. 1 and No.3). In 1968, Bastow (within his article 'Oncocylus Irises, Part II', in The Iris Year Book 1968) thought that the species was similar in form to ''

'' except from having different types of rhizomes. 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, then changed on 1 December 2004. 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 ...

, and in the

Catalogue of Life The Catalogue of Life is an online database that provides an index of known species of animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms. It was created in 2001 as a partnership between the global Species 2000 and the American Integrated Taxonomic Info ...

, as well as being tentatively accepted name by the RHS.

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 western Asia.

Range

It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to Israel, (including the Golan Heights, Keshet, and Mount Hermon, ) and Syria.

Habitat

It grows in open places like pasture lands, on the edges of

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

scrub,

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, ...

, or rocky meadows. On heavy soils, including rocky

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

, heavy basalt soils. or dark brown

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

soils.

Pollination

Generally, most Oncocyclus irises (including ''I. hermona'') are pollinated by night-sheltering male bees (male eucerine bees).

Conservation

''I. hermona'' is currently assessed as being a

vulnerable species A vulnerable species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being threatened species, threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatened species, ...

, since 2016. It is very rare on the Golan Heights and on Mount Hermon. In the past, it has been picked and uprooted due to its flowers, attacked by

herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...

s (such as

porcupine Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two families of animals: the Old World porcupines of family Hystricidae, and the New World porcupines of family, Erethizont ...

caterpillars Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Symp ...

, and true-bugs). Also its habitat has suffered from military tank exercises and other military exercises on the Golan. The populations have also been affected by cattle grazing, settlement development (housing), and the creation of

vineyards A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

and other agricultural development. The iris is a protected wildflower, and fortunately some populations of the iris can be found inside a couple of

mine fields A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...

. In Keshet, Golan a settlement area was widened, and a population of the iris was trans-located, but after 3 years only 6 plants had survived out of 120 (meaning 5%).

Cultivation

''I. hermona'' is thought to be an easier plant to grow in cultivation, as it can tolerate a

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

climate. In general 'Oncocyclus Section' Irises need good drainage, minimal summer rainfall and dry winters, similar to a semi-arid climate. In temperate areas (such as the Europe and America), they are only suitable for growing in specialist iris growers, within a bulb frame or greenhouse. They can be grown under glass (in frames), to protect the irises from excess moisture (especially during winter times) and also to ensure the (shallow planted) rhizomes get the best temperatures during the growing season. They can be grown in pots (especially in deep ones known as 'long toms'), but they need re-potting, every 2 years and extra feeding. Watering is one of the most critical aspects of iris cultivation. It can suffer from

aphids 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 ...

, viruses and rots. Israel's national collection of Oncocyclus iris is held at

Ramat HaNadiv Ramat Hanadiv ( he, רמת הנדיב, ''Heights of the Benefactor''), is a nature park and garden in northern Israel, covering at the southern end of Mount Carmel between Zikhron Ya'akov to the north and Binyamina to the south. The Jewish Nati ...

the burial place of

Baron Edmond de Rothschild Baron Abraham Edmond Benjamin James de Rothschild (Hebrew: הברון אברהם אדמונד בנימין ג'יימס רוטשילד - ''HaBaron Avraham Edmond Binyamin Ya'akov Rotshield''; 19 August 1845 – 2 November 1934) was a French memb ...

(1845–1934). It has an iris garden (which includes ''I. hermona'', ''

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

'', ''

'' and other Oncocyclus irises) as well as a large propagation system for growing more irises.

Propagation

Irises can generally 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. Irises generally require a period of cold, then a period of warmth and heat, also they need some moisture. Some seeds need

stratification Stratification may refer to: Mathematics * Stratification (mathematics), any consistent assignment of numbers to predicate symbols * Data stratification in statistics Earth sciences * Stable and unstable stratification * Stratification, or st ...

, (the cold treatment), which can be carried out indoors or outdoors. Seedlings are generally potted on (or transplanted) when they have 3 leaves. Oncocyclus irises dislike division, but it should only be carried out when the plant is overcrowded. Although hand pollination and germinating seedlings gives better results.

Hybrids and cultivars

It has one cultivar called 'Hermona'. It has various crosses including; 'Aviv' (''

'' x ''I. hermona'') X (''I. atropurpurea'' x ''I. hermona''), 'Bagdad Beauty', 'Doar Na' (''I. hermona'' X '' Iris iberica''), 'Galeet' (''

'' crossed with ''I. hermona''), 'Gilmond' (''I. haynei'' crossed with ''I. hermona''), 'Goren' (''

'' X ''I. hermona''), 'Leat' (''

'' X ''I. hermona'') X (''I. atropurpurea'' x ''I. hermona'', 'New Enchantment' (''I. hermona'' X '' Iris susiana'') X self, 'Noga' (''I. atropurpurea'' X ''I. hermona''), 'Orit' ('' Iris samariae'' X ''I. hermona''), 'Ravid' (Onco Hybrid 'Judean Charmer' (1956) X ''I. hermona''), 'Reaem' (''I. hermona'' X Onco hybrid 'Judean Charmer'), 'Sa'ar' (''Iris mariae'' X ''I. hermona''), 'Tameer' (''I. atropurpurea'' X ''I. hermona'') X ''I. hermona''),

Toxicity

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

Culture

It is also found on the roof of a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

grave of a local

sheikh Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...

in the Golan Heights. On 19 June 2016, the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

, held an exhibition of photos by photographer Sharon Ya’ari, ''I. hermona'' was included as part of his "Red Slide" series (2015).

References

Sources

* Mathew, B. The Iris. 1981 (Iris) 51. * Mouterde, P. Nouvelle flore du Liban et de la Syrie. 1966– (F Liban) * 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 Flora palaestina. 1966– (F Palest)

External links

Listed as part of the Flora of Israel
{{Taxonbar, from=Q4168899 hermona Flora of Israel Flora of Syria Golan Heights