■ (SPEC) Iris tenuissima

Botanican author Dykes, 1912

Iris tenuissima Dykes (W. R. Dykes1912). Flower color is typically cream or off-white, veined in gold or violet, with narrow floral segments and spreading standards. Usually two flowers per stem, stems to 8-12 inches tall, though many forms are stemless. Style crests are very long and narrow, only slightly reflexed. Very long perianth tube, slightly swollen at tip, with broad spathes, closed. Leaves are narrow, light green, often glaucous, and stained pink or red at base. Evergreen.

Eastwood described light yellow stemless forms as Iris citrina in 1942; Lenz later subsumed this species into Iris tenuissima. Dykes described this species as differing from Iris macrosiphon "by the broader, shorter spathes and comparatively short perianth tube."

I. tenuissima is found in northern California, from around the north end of the Sacramento Valley to the southern part of the Siskiyou Mountains, and eastward on the western slopes of the Cascades, growing in dry, sunny woodland situations.

See below:

• * References
• * Chromosome counts
• * Synonyms
• * Variations
• * Hybrids
• * Distribution and Cultivation

----

References:

Dykes, Gard. Chron., ser. 3, 51: 18 (1912).
Revue Horticole 84: page 50, February 1, 1912
Flora of North America Editorial Committee (2002). Flora of North America North of Mexico 26: 1-723. Oxford University Press, New York, Oxford.
Revue Horticole 84: page 118, March 1, 1912
Dykes in The Genus Iris, 1913; Description. Rootstock , a slender rhizome. Leaves , few in number, linear, acuminate, r 2-14 in. by ¼ in. Stem , I 2 in., unbranched, bearing 3 or 4 reduced leaves. Spathes , 2-flowered, with navicular, acuminate, rigid valves, about 2 m. long. Pedicel , under ½ in. Ovary , comparatively broad in the middle, but tapering at either end. Tube , narrow, a little more than an inch in length. Falls , very narrow, probably yellow, about r½ in. long. Standards , very narrow, 1 ½ in. long. Styles , short and narrow. Crests , linear, as long as the styles. Observations. I have only seen one herbarium sheet of this species contammg five flowering stems and a tuft of leaves. It was impossible to say with certainty that the flowers were yellow, but this is probably their colour. The species is easily distinguished by its extremely narrow segments. Its long tube brings it near to I. Purdyi and I. macrosiphon, but its stem is not concealed in bracts as is that of I. Purdyi (see Plate XI) and from I. macrosiphon it is separated by the longer stem, broader spathes and shorter tube.
Innes, C. (1985). The World of Iridaceae: 1-407. Holly Gare International Ltd., Ashington.

----

Synonyms

Limniris tenuissima (Dykes) Rodion., Bot. Zhurn. (Moscow & Leningrad) 92: 552 (2007).

Iris tenuissima var. purdyiformis R.C.Foster, Contr. Gray Herb. 119: 28 (1937).

Iris humboldtiana Eastw., Leafl. W. Bot. 2: 263 (1940).

Iris citrina Eastw., Leafl. W. Bot. 3: 125 (1942).

Iris tenuissima subsp. purdyiformis (R.C.Foster) L.W.Lenz, Aliso 4: 71 (1958).

Limniris purdyiformis (R.C.Foster) M.B.Crespo, Mart.-Azorín & Mavrodiev, Phytotaxa 232: 57 (2015).

----

Chromosome counts

----

Variations

----

Hybrids

----

Distribution and Cultivation

Distribution: Region:
Cultivation: seems to be the same as most bearded irises with perhaps a special emphasis on good drainage

---

Please do not enter images that are not your own without owners' permission, this is against Wiki policy

"Although the Encyclopedia is free to all, it is supported by Emembership in AIS, If you would like to help sustain this reference, for $15 you can become an Emember, click here."

Interested in Iris Species? Please visit the: Species Iris Group of North America website.

---

---

-- BobPries - 2010-03-02