Iris kuschakewiczii

Iris kuschakewiczii (also commonly known as ) is a species in the genus Iris, it is also in the subgenus of Scorpiris. It is a bulbous perennial.

It was originally published as 'Iris kuschakewiczi' by Boris Fedtschenko in 'Bull. Jard. Bot. Petersb.' v. 158 (Bulletin of St. Petersburg Botanical Garden) in 1905.^[2]

In 1958, Petr Petrovich Poljakov re-published it as 'Juno kuschakewiczii' in Fl. Kazakhst. 2: 249.^[3]

In 1939, it was suggested this was a form of Iris narynensis, but when Mathew published "The Iris" in 1981, he retained it as a separate species.^[4]

Iris kuschakewiczii is now an accepted name by the RHS.^[5]

It was named after a Russian botanist 'A. A. Kuschakewicz' who worked with N. J. Korolkov in 1872,^[6] and Boris Fedtschenko in 1873.^[7] A. A. Kuschakewicz collected many plants in Turkestan and Central Asia.^[8]

It is mentioned in D.J. Mabberley portable plant books of 1997.^[9][10]

It is fairly easy to grow in cultivation, within an alpine house or bulb frame,^[11] it does not need much moisture in summer.^[12] It can be grown outside in a sheltered, sunny raised bed with well drained soils.^[13][14]

Habit

Iris kuschakewiczii has bulb 1.5 cm (in diameter),^[15] with a paper tunic-coating. It has thickened storage roots, close to the base.^[11][16]

It grows up to a height of between 10–15 cm (4–6 in), including the flower.^[4][12][14] It has a thick stem, which is between 3–5 cm long, hidden by the leaves, unbranched with 1-4 flowers.^{[11][13][15][16]} The blooms appear in April–May^[11][15]

The non-scented flowers appear above a perianth tube of 3.5-4.5 cm long.^[11][15][16] The flowers come in various shades of purple, from greenish purple,^[16] pale violet,^[4][14][15] violet-blue,^[13] to lilac blue.^[11] The (3.5–4 cm long)^[11] falls have very dark violet blotches and lines on either side of a prominent white crest,^{[4][13][14][16]} or white signal patch.^[11] The blades are oblong-obvate shaped (about 1.2 x 0.7 cm).^[11][15] The standards are 1 – 1.5 cm long (often 3 lobed shaped).^[11][15][16] The flowers measure approx. 6.5–8 cm in diameter.^[14]

The bracts and bracteole are green with membranous tips and margins.^[11]

The fruits appear in late spring-early summer.^[16]

It has 4-5 dark green glaucous leaves which gradually taper to the apex,^[15][16] (falcate),^[11] They are clustered together at the base,^[11] and are 1-1.5 cm wide (close to the base).^{[11][14][15][16]} They also have a contrasting white edge or margin.^[11][14]

Native

In 1905, Iris kuschakewiczii was found in Turkestan,^[4] on the northern foothills of the Tien Shan Mountains of Central Asia.^{[11][12][14][15]}

It can be found on gravelly and rocky slopes, on the red-clay hills of Kazakhstan (on the north-western spurs of the Tien Shan).^[15][16]

It is also found in the Ala Archa National Park (25 km from the capital of Bishkek) of Kyrgyzstan.^[17]

References

External links

• Image of Iris kuschakewiczii
• Image of a pot of several Iris kuschakewiczii's

Media related to Iris kuschakewiczii at Wikimedia Commons Data related to Iris kuschakewiczii at Wikispecies