Description
Iris antilibanotica is a rhizomatous Oncocylus species from the mountains of Syria. It makes stems from about 25-45cm tall with large flowers, however the fan of green, falcate leaves is small and individual leaves seldom make more than 10cm long.
The slender, wiry stem, carries large flowers. The falls are dark purple veined in violet, whilst the standards are a slightly paler shade and are more inclined towards violet than purple. These have a small, very dark signal spot – it is nearly black. The beard is yellow but the hairs are purple tipped and a warm yellow glow infuses the flowers in the area of the beard.
It is a very rarely cultivated plant and one which is very rarely seen. This is our first ever offering in 44 years. It grows only in Syria and Brian Mathew says “only on the mountains above Bludan”. ( NW of Damascus). It is said to be extinct in the wild but this is a very mountainous region, close to the border with Lebanon, in an area that has not been well botanised for many years, nor is likely to be.
Cultivation is the same as for the other large-flowered species. Any thoughts about it not being hardy because of its southerly occurrences, should be tempered with the knowledge that its native habitat is usually snow-covered in winter
Introduced to our lists in 2016
