''Iris qinghainica'' is a beardless iris in the genus '' Iris'', in the subgenus '' Limniris'' and in the series '' Tenuifoliae'' of the genus. It is a rhizomatous

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of ...

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 China. It has grey green leaves, a very short stem and 1–2 blue or violet flowers.

Description

''Iris qinghainica'' has a knobbly rhizome. On top of the rhizome are maroon-brown, fibrous (or straw-like), remnants (of last seasons leaves), as sheaths (of the new leaves). It has linear, narrow, greyish green leaves, that are between long and between 2–3 mm wide. They have no obvious veining and end in a sharp point (acuminate). It has a very short flower stem, that often does not emerge from the ground. Overall, (stem and flower) the flower can reach up to long. It has 3 green, lanceolate, between long and between 0.6 and 1.8 cm wide, spathes (leaves of the flower bud). The stems hold between 1 and 2, terminal (top of stem) flowers, blooming between June and July. The flowers are in diameter, and are in shades of blue or violet. It has two pairs of petals, three large sepals (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 narrowly oblanceolate (top wider than the bottom), long and 5 – 8 mm wide. They have a small white signal patch. The standards are also narrowly oblanceolate, but much smaller, only 3 cm long and 4 mm wide. It has a filiform (thread-like) long, perianth tube. Also, 1.8 – 2 cm long stamens, 1.5 cm long ovary and triangular-like, style branches that are 2.5 cm long and 3 mm wide. They are the same shade of colour as the petals. After the iris has flowered, it produces a seed capsule (not described) between June and August.

Taxonomy

It is written as 青海鸢尾 in Chinese script and known as ''qing hai yuan wei'' 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' ...

Chinese. It has the common name of 'Qinghai Iris'. 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 ...

''qinghainica'' refers to the Chinese provinces of

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 ...

, in the northwest of the country of China. It was published by and described by Yu Tang Zhao in '' Acta Phytotaxonomica Sinica'' (of

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

) Vol.18, Issue 1 page 55 in 1980. 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 ...

Agricultural Research Service on 4 April 2003. As of January 2015, it is listed as ''unchecked'' by the RHS.

Distribution

''Iris qinghainica'' is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

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 ...

, in the Chinese provinces of

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 ...

and

. It is found in grasslands and meadows, on mountain slopes, and on

loess A loess (, ; from ) is a clastic rock, clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loesses or similar deposition (geology), deposits. A loess ...

hills. It is 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 ...

habitats, at

altitude Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum (geodesy), datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometr ...

s of between 2500 and 3100 m above sea level.

Cultivation

''Iris qinghainica'' is not common in cultivation in the UK. It needs the protection of bulb frames during the winter, protecting it from the winter wet. It only needs water during the growing season.

Uses

In ''Chinese Materia Medica'', it is noted that the seeds of ''Iris qinghainica'' are used as a traditional Chinese herbal medicine. The seeds are harvested between July and August. The husk is removed with any other impurities and then dried. The seeds taste bitter or slightly sweet. They are taken as an oral dose. 3–9 g of powder or a decoction. It is used to treat roundworm (as an anthelmintic), pinworm (or threadworm),

appendicitis Appendicitis is inflammation of the Appendix (anatomy), appendix. Symptoms commonly include right lower abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fever and anorexia (symptom), decreased appetite. However, approximately 40% of people do not have these t ...

and food poisoning.

References

Other sources

*Mathew, B. 1981. The Iris. 201. *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

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q15227550 qinghainica Endemic flora of China Flora of Gansu Flora of Qinghai Garden plants of Asia Plants described in 1980 Plants used in traditional Chinese medicine