Iris xiphium, 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 : 91

26. I. xiphium L. , Sp. Pl. 40 (1753) .

Plant with leaves present through thewinter. Bulb ovoid, investedby thin, membranous leaf-bases. Stem 25-50(-80) cm. Lower leaves 20-70 cm x (1-) 3-5 mm, glaucous, the upper shorter and wider and merging gradually into the spathes. Flowers 1(—2), usually violet, with a yellow or orange centre to the falls, rarely mostly yellow; pedicels up to 120 mm; spathes 60-100 mm, herbaceous. Hypanthial tube 1-3 mm. Falls 45-65 x 18-25 mm, glabrous; limb suborbicular; claw 7-10 mm wide, narrowly oblong, distinctly longer than the limb, concealed by the style-branches. Standards 45-65 x 15-20 mm, oblanceolate. Seeds compressed, semicircular, yellowish-brown. Flowering in early (rarely mid-) summer. 2« = 34. S. W. Europe, extending eastwards to 13ü3O' E. in W.C. Italy. Co Ga Hs It Lu Sa.

Plants from Portugal with yellow flowers have been called I. lusitanica Ker-Gawler , Bot. Mag. 18: t. 679 (1803); yellowflowered variants occur elsewhere inthe range of the species, and it is not clear whether in Portugal this character is correlated with any other.