Siberian iris

Appearance

"Iris sibirica" was often confused with "Iris sanguinea", another blue flowering Asian iris, but sanguinea has unbranched stems, while sibirica has branched stems.

It has creeping rhizome diameter), forming a dense clumping plant. The rhizomes are covered with the brown remnants of old leaves, from previous seasons.

It has green grass-like leaves, which are ribbed and can sometimes have a pink tinge at the base of the leaf. They can grow to between 25–80 cm long and 0.4–0.6 cm wide, normally shorter than the flowering stems. In Autumn, the foliage turns yellow and then dies back, to re-emerge in the spring.

It has a hollow, slender, 1–3 branched stem, that grows up to between 50–120 cm long. The stems bear 2–5 flowers, at the terminal ends between late spring and early summer, between May and June.

It has 3 brown paper-like spathes, that are reddish at the base, measuring between 3–5 cm long.

The flowers come in a range of blue shades. From violet-blue, to blue, and occasionally white. The flowers are 6–7 cm in diameter.

It has 2 pairs of petals, 3 large sepals, known as the 'falls' and 3 inner, smaller petals, known as the 'standards'. The drooping obovate falls, measuring 5–7 cm long and 2–2.5 cm wide, have a wide white blade or signal with dark-blue to violet veining. The white forms of the iris have a tinge of lavender and dark veining.

The smaller narrow upright standards are between 4.5–5 cm long and 1.5–1.8 cm wide.

It has a light to dark blue-violet, circular perianth tube, about 1 cm long, pale blue style long), a pedicel between 1–15 cm long and a 1.5–2 cm roundly triangular, ovary.

After the iris has flowered, it produces a short stubby seed capsule, which is roundly triangular with low ridges at angles, measuring 3–4.5 cm by 1–1.3 cm. Inside the capsule, are 2 rows of seeds, which are thin, flat, shaped like a capital 'D' and dark brown seeds, measuring about 5 mm by 3 mm.

Distribution

"Iris sibirica" is native to temperate areas between Europe and Central Asia. It has the widest distribution range of all the Siberian iris series.

Status

According to IUCN Red List criteria, it is 'Vulnerable' and it has become 'Extinct' in the Wild in Slovakia. In 2014, it was 'Vulnerable' in the Carpathian part of Slovakia.
It is considered to be rare and endangered in Poland and not considered threatened in Romania.

The UK national collection of Siberian Iris is kept by Alun and Jill Whitehead at Aulden Farm, 3 miles south of Leominster in Herefordshire.

Habitat

"Iris sibirica" is native to temperate areas between Europe and Central Asia. It has the widest distribution range of all the Siberian iris series.It is found growing in damp woodland, wet meadows, grasslands or pastures, reed swamps by lakes, and beside streams. They generally gain a lot of moisture from snow-melt of mountains, flooding streams and soaking areas beside them.

Within North America, it is found in the damp ditches beside roadsides.

Defense

Like many other irises, most parts of the plant are poisonous, if mistakenly ingested can cause stomach pains and vomiting. Also handling the plant may cause a skin irritation or an allergic reaction. Although an edible starch has been extracted from the plant in China, similar to Iris ensata. The root has also been used to create an insecticide and an expectorant.

Uses

Johan Peter Falk noted that the Tara Tartars of Russia coloured cloth yellow with "Iris sibirica" flowers and the Votyaks, Mordvins and Kalmyks derived red dye from Galium species.

It has also been used to create a drug to be used as an emetic and laxative.

An old traditional usage before the wedding night, Polish girls eat the cooked fruit of Iris sibirica to help improve contraception.

Cultural

An illustration of "Iris sibirica" has been used as a Postage stamp in Poland.