Redvein Iris

Description

Iris korolkowii is a plant species in the genus Iris, it is also in the subgenus Iris and in the section Regelia. It is a rhizomatous perennial, from the mountains of Tien Shan, Pamir and Altai, in Afghanistan and Turkestan (now part of Uzbekistan). It is commonly known as the Redvein Iris. It has long, sword-shaped grey-green leaves, slender stem, and 2 to 3 white, cream, pale green or light purple flowers which are veined with maroon, chocolate brown or dark purple. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant in temperate regions. It has thick or stout rhizomes, that are short and compact. It also has long secondary roots, the fleshy, thin stolons,that penetrate into the ground for minerals to feed the plant.They are shorter than Iris stolonifera and Iris hoogiana. The top of the rhizome, has the fibrous remains of last seasons leaves It has linear, ensiform (sword-shaped),glaucous leaves which are grey green,and are slightly tinged with purple at the base.They can grow up to between 30 cm (12 in) long, and between 0.5 and 1 cm wide. They are shorter than the flowering stem, and fade soon after the blooming period time has ended. It has a slender erect stem, that can grow up to between 40–60 cm (16–24 in) tall. The stems also have 2 spathes (leaves of the flower bud), that are membranous, green and ventricose (swollen or inflated), They can be 9–10 cm (4–4 in) long. It has several short branches (or pedicels) near top of the plant. The stems (and the branches) hold between 2 and 3 flowers, blooming in late spring and early summer, between April and May, or between May and June. In the United States, it flowers in mid to southern states between early April to early May and it also flowers in mid to northern states between late April to early June. The flowers are 6–8 cm (2–3 in) in diameter. They are creamy white, ivory, yellow-white, or olive green, or light purple. They are veined with purple, chocolate brown, brown-purple, or dark maroon. It has 2 pairs of petals, 3 large sepals (outer petals), known as the 'falls' and 3 inner, smaller petals (or tepals), known as the 'standards'. The falls are 7–11 cm (3–4 in) long, with a deflexed, and oblong blade. They have a dark signal patch and beard. The beard can be as dark as black, or black-brown. The oblong and erect, standards are 7–11 cm (3–4 in) long, similar in colour to the falls. It has a sparse beard.