Iris germanica, L.

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1980, Flora Europaea. Volume 5. Alismataceae to Orchidaceae (Monocotyledones), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press : 90-91

20. I. germanica L. , Sp. Pl. 38 (1753).

Stems 40-90 cm, stout, with branches at least 5 cm long in the upper half, the lower flowers well-exserted from the subtending bract even in bud. Leaves 30-70 cm x 20-35 mm, somewhat glaucous, more or less straight. Flowers (3-)4(-5), bluish-violet, or white tinged with blue; pedicels very short; spathes 35-55 mm, scarcely exceeding the hypanthial tube, scarious in the upper, often tinged with purple. Hypanthial tube 17-25 mm. Falls 55-90 x 40-60 mm, cuneate-obovate, without a distinct claw. Standards 55-90 x 45- 60 mm, broadly elliptical, with a short, wide claw. Seeds pyriform, rugose, reddish-brown. 2« = 36, 44, 48. Dry, rocky or grassy places. Widely cultivatedfor ornament andfor the perfume extracted from its rhizome and naturalized in most of Europe except the north; of unknown and probably hybrid origin but perhaps native in the E. Mediterranean region. [Al Au Az Be BI Br

Bu Co Cr Cz Da Ga Ge *Gr He Hs Hu It Ju Lu Rra Rs (C, W, K, E) Sa Si.]

Var. fiorentina Dykes ( I. fiorentina auct., vix L.), with whitish flowers, is cultivated for perfume, especially in Italy; none of the morphological characters used to distinguish it from 20 appear to be constant. Many records of var. fiorentina are, however, referable to 22.