Plantae > Tracheophyta > Liliopsida > Asparagales > Iridaceae > Iris > Iris relicta

Iris relicta (German Iris)

Synonyms: Iris germanica var. suaveolens (homotypic); Iris suaveolens (heterotypic)

Wikipedia Abstract

Iris relicta is a species in the genus Iris, it is also in the subgenus of Iris. It is a rare rhizomatous perennial, from the mountains of Italy. It is medium sized, with purple flowers and white beards. It is rarely cultivated as an ornamental plant in temperate regions. It has had a confusing history, once thought as a variety of Iris germanica, then as a separate species with a name shared with another bearded iris. It has only been sorted out since 1996.
View Wikipedia Record: Iris relicta

Attributes

Allergen Potential [1]  Medium-Low
Edible [2]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Flower Type [2]  Hermaphrodite
Hazards [2]  The leaves, and especially the rhizomes, of this species contain an irritating resinous substance called irisin. If ingested this can cause severe gastric disturbances; Plants can cause skin irritations and allergies in some people;
Lifespan [2]  Perennial
Pollinators [2]  Insects, Lepidoptera
Scent [2]  The dried root develops a delicious fragrance.
Structure [4]  Herb
Usage [2]  The root is a source of Orris powder which has the scent of violets; It is obtained by grinding up the dried root; It is much used as a fixative in perfumery and pot-pourri, as an ingredient of toothpastes, breath fresheners etc and as a food flavouring. The root can take several years of drying to fully develop its fragrance, when fresh it has an acrid flavour and almost no smell; An essential oil is obtained from the fresh root, this has the same uses as the root; The juice of the root is sometimes used as a cosmetic and also for the removal of freckles from the skin; A black dye is obtained from the root; A blue dye is obtained from the flowers; The seeds are used as rosary beads;
Height [2]  39 inches (1 m)
Width [2]  4.92 feet (1.5 m)
Light Preference [3]  Mostly Sunny
Soil Acidity [3]  Moderate Acid
Soil Fertility [3]  Mostly Infertile
Soil Moisture [3]  Mostly Dry
View Plants For A Future Record : Iris relicta

Protected Areas

Emblem of

Croatia
Tennessee

Predators

Acronicta rumicis (Knot Grass)[5]
Hystrix cristata (African porcupine)[6]
Lerodea eufala (rice leaffolder)[5]
Mononychus punctumalbum[7]
Phenacoccus avenae (oat mealybug)[8]

External References

USDA Plant Profile

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Derived from Allergy-Free Gardening OPALS™, Thomas Leo Ogren (2000)
♦ 2Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
♦ 3ECOFACT 2a Technical Annex - Ellenberg’s indicator values for British Plants, M O Hill, J O Mountford, D B Roy & R G H Bunce (1999)
♦ 4Kattge, J. et al. (2011b) TRY - a global database of plant traits Global Change Biology 17:2905-2935
♦ 5HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández
♦ 6THE HABITS AND INFLUENCE ON THE ENVIRONMENT OF THE OLD WORLD PORCUPINE Hystrix cristata L. IN THE NORTHERNMOST PART OF ITS RANGE, L. Santini, Proceedings of the 9th Vertebrate Pest Conference (1980), University of Nebraska - Lincoln
♦ 7Biological Records Centre Database of Insects and their Food Plants
♦ 8Ben-Dov, Y., Miller, D.R. & Gibson, G.A.P. ScaleNet 4 November 2009
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0