''Iris potaninii'' is a species in the genus ''

Iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (given name), a feminine given name, and a list of peopl ...

''; it is also in the subgenus of ''

'' and in the ''Psammiris'' section. It is a

rhizomatous In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

, from

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. It is a dwarf plant, having either subterranean or very small stems, long thin leaves and yellow, or dark violet to purplish blue flowers. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant in

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

regions.

Description

''Iris potaninii'' is similar in form to '' Iris tigridia'' (within ''Pseudoregalia section'') and '' Iris bloudowii'' (another ''Psammiris section'' iris), but differs from ''bloudowii'' in having an ob-conical, not prostrate rhizome. It differs from ''tigridia'' by having old leaf fibres on the rhizome.British Iris Society (1997) It also differs from ''Iris tigridia'' in leaf form, as ''Iris potaninii'' has rounded leaves that do not end in a point. It has thick, short and tough rhizomes. Under the rhizomes are thick, fleshy and yellowish secondary roots. On top of the rhizome are the curled, fibrous remains of last season's leaves. It has linear basal (growing from the base) leaves, which are not pointed at the ends (or obtuse). They can grow up to long and 0.2–0.4 cm wide, at blooming time. The leaves then lengthen, and by the time the iris has seed capsules, they are between long and 0.3–0.4 cm wide. It is a dwarf plant, having either subterranean, or very small stems or

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

s. They can reach up to between long. The pedicel (or dwarf stem) has 2 narrow, lanceolate (or oblong-lanceolate,) and (scarious) membranous spathes or

bracts In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also loo ...

(leaves of the flower bud). They are long and 0.6 cm wide. The stem (or pedicel) holds 1 terminal (top of stem) flower, between April and May (in Russia), or May and June. The flowers are in diameter, come in yellow, or dark violet to purplish blue shades. It has 2 pairs of petals, 3 large

sepals A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

(outer petals), known as the 'falls' and 3 inner, smaller petals (or

tepals A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of ve ...

), known as the 'standards'. The falls are obovate (in shape), with markings or veins around a central yellowish or whitish beard. They are long and 1.2–1.5 cm wide, and have curled up edges. The erect standards are oblanceolate, and are long and 0.8–1.0 cm wide. They also have curled up edges. It has a long perianth tube, which is thread-ilke. It also has 1.5 cm long

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s, purple anthers and a 0.7 cm long (spindle-shaped) ovary. It has a 2.8 cm long and 6mm wide style branch, which has a flat crest and toothed edges. After the iris has flowered, between June or July (in Russia), or between July and September, it produces an ellipsoid seed capsule. The capsule is long and between 1.3 and 1.5 cm wide, and has 6 longitudinal ribs and a short beak appendage (at the top). It dehisces (splits open) from the middle of the capsule. Inside the capsule are seeds which are 3 mm (in diameter), flattened globular, or pyriform (pear shaped), wrinkled, and reddish brown in colour.

Biochemistry

In 2002, a study was carried out on the rhizome of ''Iris potaninii''. It found several chemical compounds, including 2 new

isoflavones Isoflavones are a type of naturally-occurring isoflavonoids, many of which act as phytoestrogens in mammals. Isoflavones occur in many plant species, but are especially high in soybeans. Although isoflavones and closely-related phytoestrogens are ...

, 6, 3', 4'-trimethoxy-7 and 8, 5'-trihydroxyisoflavone. In 2008, a study was carried out on the

anatomical Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

structure of the leaf and drought resistance of 4 different species of Iris ('' Iris songarica'', ''Iris potaninii'', '' Iris loczyi'' and '' Iris lactea'') from

Qinghai Qinghai is an inland Provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. It is the largest provinces of China, province of China (excluding autonomous regions) by area and has the third smallest population. Its capital and largest city is Xin ...

, China. It showed that all the species were strongly adaptable to drought conditions.

Genetics

In 2012, a genetic study was carried out on ''

Iris laevigata ''Iris laevigata'', known as Japanese iris, rabbit-ear iris, or shallow-flowered iris (Japanese: カキツバタ), is a species of flowering plant in the family Iridaceae, native to Japan. It is related to other members of '' Iris'' subgenus '' ...

'' and its from several closely related iris species, including ''

Iris ensata ''Iris ensata'', the Japanese iris or Japanese water iris (Japanese: ''hanashōbu'', ハナショウブ), formerly ''I. kaempferi'', is a species of flowering plant in the family Iridaceae, native to Japan, China, Korea and Russia, and widely cu ...

'', '' Iris setosa'', '' Iris halophila'', '' Iris scariosa'', ''Iris potaninii'', '' Iris tenuifolia'', '' Iris bloudowii'', and ''

Iris sanguinea ''Iris sanguinea'' is a rhizome, rhizomatous flowering plant in the genus ''Iris (plant), Iris'' and in the series ''Iris ser. Sibiricae, Sibiricae''. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant in temperateness, temperate regions. It is one of the s ...

''. As most irises are

diploid Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Here ''sets of chromosomes'' refers to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, ...

, having two sets of

chromosomes A chromosome is a package of DNA containing part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes, the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with nucleosome-forming packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells, the most importa ...

, this can be used to identify hybrids and classification of groupings. It was counted in 1984 by Doronkin, as 2n=22. It is normally published as 2n=22.

Taxonomy

It has the common name of 'curl-sheath iris' (in China), or 'Potanin iris'.Jiaju Zhou, Guirong Xie and Xinjian Yan It is written as 卷鞘鸢尾 in

Chinese script Chinese characters are logographs used Written Chinese, to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represe ...

, and known as ''juan qiào yuān wěi'' in

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

in China. The Latin

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

''potaninii'' refers to

Grigory Potanin Grigory Nikolayevich Potanin (; 4 October 1835 – 6 June 1920) was a Russian botanist, ethnographer, and natural historian. He was an explorer of Inner Asia and was the first to catalogue many of the area's native plants. Potanin was also an ...

(a Russian

ethnographer Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

and natural historian). It was found in western Kansu (

Gansu Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...

) in 1876. It was first published and described by

Maxim. Carl Johann Maximovich, also Karl Ivanovich Maximovich (Russian: Карл Иванович Максимович; 23 November 1827 – 16 February 1891) was a Russian botanist. Maximovich spent most of his life studying the flora of the countries ...

in 'Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Pétersbourg' Vol.26 page528 in 1880. It was also published in 'Mélanges Biol. Bull. Phys.-Math. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Pétersbourg' Vol.10 page724 in 1880. In the 1980s, it was thought to be part of the 'Pseudoregelias section', but it is still within the Psammiris section, in most sources. It was verified by

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...

and the

Agricultural Research Service The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the principal in-house research agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). ARS is one of four agencies in USDA's Research, Education and Economics mission area. ARS is charged with ext ...

on 4 April 2003 and then updated on 10 April 2012. ''Iris potaninii'' is an accepted name by the RHS.

Distribution and habitat

''Iris potaninii'' is

native Native may refer to: People * '' Jus sanguinis'', nationality by blood * '' Jus soli'', nationality by location of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Nat ...

areas of

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Range

It is found in the

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, within Siberia, in the states of Aga Buryat,

Buryatia Buryatia, officially the Republic of Buryatia, is a republic of Russia located in the Russian Far East. Formerly part of the Siberian Federal District, it has been administered as part of the Far Eastern Federal District since 2018. To its nort ...

, Chita (including Dahuria (or Transbaikal),) and Gorno-Altai. It is also found in China, in the

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

of Gansu,

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

and

Xizang The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), often shortened to Tibet in English or Xizang in Hanyu Pinyin, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It was established in 1965 to replace the Tibet Area, a former administrative divisio ...

. It is also thought to be found in Mongolia, and

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

Habitat

It grows on the rocky, gravelly or stony slopes, on dry hillsides, of mountains. They can be found at an altitude of above sea level.

Conservation

The iris is listed as 'rare', in

Red Data Book The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological spe ...

of the Altai region. One colony of the iris is protected within

Daursky Nature Reserve The Daurian Nature Reserve () is a Russian zapovednik (strict nature reserve) situated in the southern part of Zabaykalsky Krai in Siberia, Russia, close to the border with Mongolia. It is part of a World Heritage Site named "The Landscapes of ...

(in Chita Oblast, Russia).

Cultivation

hardy, soil, sun, moisture, situation, pests, planting It is

hardy Hardy may refer to: People * Hardy (surname) * Hardy (given name) * Hardy (singer), American singer-songwriter Places Antarctica * Mount Hardy, Enderby Land * Hardy Cove, Greenwich Island * Hardy Rocks, Biscoe Islands Australia * Hardy, ...

in Russia, surviving winter in

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

without shelter. It is hardy in a sheltered place, in the UK. It prefers to grow in sunny positions, in well-drained soils. It has been tried in various botanical gardens within Russia, since 1992, in

Barnaul Barnaul (, ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative centre of Altai Krai, Russia, located at the confluence of the Barnaulka and Ob (river), Ob rivers in the West Siberian Plain. As of the Russian Censu ...

, Chita and St. Petersburg. It could be grown within gardens, in a rock garden, or mixed borders.

Uses

''Iris potaninii'' has been used in traditional Mongolian herbal medicine, in the treatment of various diseases, including bacterial infections, cancers and inflammations. Also, some

benzoquinones Benzoquinone (C6H4O2) is a quinone with a single benzene ring. There are 2 (out of 3 hypothetical) benzoquinones: * 1,4-Benzoquinone, most commonly, right image (also ''para''-benzoquinone, ''p''-benzoquinone, ''para''-quinone, or just quinone) * 1, ...

have been isolated from Iris species rhizomes, and used as anti-cancer agents in modern Chinese medicines.

References

Sources

* Czerepanov, S. K. 1995. Vascular plants of Russia and adjacent states (the former USSR). * Komarov, V. L. et al., eds. 1934–1964. Flora SSSR. ists as I. potanini Maxim. * Mathew, B. 1981. The Iris. 40. * Waddick, J. W. & Zhao Yu-tang. 1992. Iris of China. * Wu Zheng-yi & P. H. Raven et al., eds. 1994–. Flora of China (English edition).

External links

*
has an image of the iris in flower

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q10910805 potaninii Flora of Mongolia Flora of Siberia Flora of Xinjiang Garden plants of Asia Plants described in 1880 Medicinal plants of Asia Taxa named by Karl Maximovich