■ (SPEC) Iris rossii Baker
1877, Botanical author Baker
Iris rossii Baker (
John Gilbert Baker, 1877, Korea and China, only in Liaoning Province);
Section Limniris ,
Series Chinenses , D-Chin. 4-6" (10-15 cm); Violet to purple, pink or white; hafts whitish, veined and spotted, center stained yellow. In Dr. Waddick's photo the standards and stylearms are a light lavender contrasting with the darker falls; see Iris of China, 1991.
See below:
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References:
More images in wild at INaturalistUK |
Baker in The Gardeners' Chronicle 8: 809. Dec. 29, 1877 gives the first description of this plant as; This is a new species of Iris of the small group of Apogon with very long tubes. It has not yet been introduced in the living state, but as I have already described all the known species in your columns I venture to ask to be allowed to add this to the list. It is an inhabitant of dry sloping banks in the province of Sching-king, in Northern China, where it was gathered in flower on April 27, 1876, by the gentleman in whose honour I have named it, Mr. John Ross. This province of Sching-king runs like a wedge between Manchuria and Corea, and its botanical productions were totally unknown till we received a considerable collection of them from Mr. Ross this present autumn. The collection has not yet been fully worked out, but I have studied the ferns and find that, although none of them are absolutely new, it adds not less than half-a-dozen species previously known only in Japan and Manchuria, as for instance Aspidium tripteron and Scolopendrium sibiricum, to the Chinese flora. The present Iris comes nearest the West Siberian I. humilis, M.B., from which it may be readily distinguished by posessing a short flower-stem, by having only two leaves to each tuft and by its very short stigmas, with appendages as long as the lamina. Densely caespitose on a slender rhizome, the tufts of leaves surrounded by clusters of bristles. Produced leaves not more than two to a tuft, linear, acuminate, glabrous, thin and grass-like in texture, 3-4 inches long at the flowering time, 1/8-1/6 inch broad. Scape always 1-flowered, very short, hardly rising above the soil. Spathe-valves always two, linear, green except at the very edge, 2-3 inches long. Pedicel not more than ¼ inch long inside the spath. Ovary cylindrical, ¼-1/3 inch long. Perianth-tube cylindrical, 2-3 inches long. Limb lilac, or rarely white; falls obovate-spathulate, 1 inch long, under ½ inch broad, the claw shorter than the lamina; standards erect, 1 inch long, obovate-unguiculate. Stigmas, including the linear points, ½ inch long, the point equaling the undivided portion of the lamina. Anther ¼ inch long, exceeding the filaments." |
Fig. 14. Waddick & Zhao, Iris of China, 1992, illustrated in color |
Gartenflora 27: 382. 1878; |
La Belg. Hort. 28: 89. 1878; |
Journal of the Linnean Society of London 17: 387. 1880; |
Dykes in The Genus Iris, 1913:Description.Rootstock , very free flowering, the slender rhizome being, like that of I. ruthenica, clothed in fibres, which surround the bases of the tufts of leaves. Leaves , very short (3 in.) at flowering time, finally nearly a foot long: ribbed as in I. nepalensis, linear, thin and grassy. Stems , 1½-4 in. long, clothed in reduced leaves, three or more being produced from the same tuft of leaves. Spathes , acuminate, green, 1½-2½ in. long, I-flowered, the valves not rigid. Pedicel , ½ in. or less. Ovary , ¾ in. Tube , 1½-2½ in. or more, slender. Falls , with an oblong blade as long as the haft, the colour varying from lilac and pink to pure white. Standards , oblanceolate, unguiculate.Observations.This small species, which is shown by herbarium specimens to be very floriferous, has never apparently been introduced into cultivation. In some ways it resembles I. ruthenica, from which however it is easily separated by the long, linear perianth tube. |
Chugai 1931; 1939; |
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Synonyms
Ross Iris;
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Chromosome counts
Rosea. 2n=32, Kurita, 1940; 2n=34, Lee, 1970.
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Variations
'Rossii forma Alba'. (Dr. Yong No Lee, 1974), Iris rossii Baker f. alba Y. Lee differs from the type in having white flowers streaked with yellow into the center, instead of the usual violet. It was found at Chonmasan, Kyongiddo, Korea. It grows in deciduous forests of varying degrees of openness." -Korean Journal of Botany vol. 17, #1, p33-35 (1974).
A number of variations can be seen at this website
http://blog.daum.net/sa55jung/15972657 or on Wayback at
http://web.archive.org/web/20221208160030/https://sa55jung.tistory.com/15972657
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Hybrids
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Distribution & Cultivation
Further Reading
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Interested in Iris Species? Please visit the:
Species Iris Group of North America website.
Your Observations Are Valued. Please make note of bud count, branching, purple based foliage and bloom time, etc. Because these are affected by climate, note date, year and geographic location and write these and other comments in the comment box below.
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BobPries - 2010-02-11