Iris | Description, Species, & Facts (2024)

iris, (genus Iris), genus of about 300 species of flowering plants, including some of the world’s most popular and varied garden flowers. The diversity of the genus is centerd in the north temperate zone, though some of its most handsome species are native to the Mediterranean and central Asian areas. The iris is (arguably) the fleur-de-lis of the French royalist standard. It is a popular subject of Japanese flower arrangement and is an economically important cut flower in the floral industry. It is also the source of orrisroot, from which “essence of violet” perfume is made.

Physical description

Irises are either bulbous or rhizomatous (with thick creeping underground stems). In species with a rhizome, the stem is usually horizontal, robust, and ringed with leaf scars. It often grows partially exposed but is firmly rooted in the soil. Species of Iris native to southwestern Europe generally produce bulbs. This type of stem is short and conical, and from it many leaf bases arise, one inside the other. These bases are seamless and constitute the bulk of the bulb. Bulblets arise from the stem, between the leaf bases, to propagate the plant.

The flowers commonly possess three sepals, three petals, and three broad pollen-receptive stigma branches, under which the pollen-producing anthers are hidden. Of the six petal-like floral segments in irises, the more erect inner ones are called standards and the usually drooping outer ones are called falls. These flower parts are located above the ovary (inferior ovary), which consists of three carpels unified into a single pistil. Ovules within the ovary portion become seeds, and the ovary matures into dry capsule fruits.

Major species

Best known are the bearded, or German, group—the common garden irises. These are largely hybrids of pale blue Iris pallida, yellow I. variegata, purple-blue I. germanica, and perhaps other southern European species. They are hardy rhizomatous types with sturdy swordlike leaves and tall stems (to 90 cm [3 feet]) of three to many flowers. With the introduction in 1900 of taller, heavier, larger-flowered I. mesopotamica, even larger hybrids were created, many of them fragrant, in a full range of colours and combinations, often with brightly contrasting “beards” on the falls. Dwarf bearded irises, most of which flower in early spring, are for the most part varieties of the almost stemless I. pumila and the taller I. lutescens, both from dry rocky places in southern Europe.

Best known of the beardless rhizomatous group is perhaps the water-loving Japanese iris (I. ensata), frequently featured in Japanese watercolors. Its almost flat flowers consist of long, somewhat drooping falls that surround narrower, shorter standards. The Siberian iris (I. sibirica), from grasslands in central and eastern Europe, has slender, straight stalks with clustered heads of violet-blue or white blooms. Similar but shorter and more sturdy, I. spuria has round falls, short standards, and rather lax foliage. The yellow, or water, flag (I. pseudacorus) is a swamp plant native to Eurasia and North Africa; the blue flag (I. versicolor) occupies similar habitats in North America.

Two outstanding bulbous irises are both from mountains of Spain. They have narrow standards, somewhat broader falls, and spiky linear foliage. Spanish iris (I. xiphium), violet with yellow or yellow-spotted falls, grows in damp sandy places. English iris (I. xiphioides), so named because of its popularity in British horticulture, bears bright blue flowers. Dutch irises are sturdier, earlier-flowering hybrids created in the Netherlands.