Plant Wiki

The open plant encyclopedia

Know any plant.
Grow it well.

Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.

  • 13,000+plants with full pages
  • 365,000+plant species worldwide
  • 220+countries covered

Common in

See all

The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.

What do you want to do?

Popular plants

Browse all plants

See them in 3D

All plants in 3D

Browse plants

Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.

Plant Wiki › Browse plants

Iris barnumiae

Iris barnumiae
Photo: M. Smith, Public domain

Iris barnumiae is a rhizomatous perennial iris from the Oncocyclus section, native to the mountains of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq and Turkey. It needs full sun, very good drainage and a dry summer rest, so grow it in a raised bed or alpine house.

Family
Iridaceae (Iris family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Full sun
Water
Water sparingly while growing and keep it dry in summer when the leaves have died back.
Soil
Gritty, well-drained loam mixed with old mortar rubble or grit.
Temperature
Hardy to about -5 to -10 °C (USDA-like H4); protect from wet winter cold.
How easy
Moderate
Safety
Toxic: Most parts, including the rhizome and leaves, are poisonous; eating them can cause stomach pain and vomiting, and handling may cause skin irritation or allergy.
Native range
E. Türkiye to SE. Syria and N. Iran
Climate
temperate

About

Iris barnumiae is a species in the genus Iris; it is also in the subgenus Iris and in the section Oncocyclus. It is a rhizomatous perennial, from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. It has pale glaucous green and narrow leaves, that are slightly sickle-shaped and fade soon after blooming. It has, in mid- to late spring, fragrant flowers in shades of purple, from red-purple, mulberry to purplish-violet, with a yellow tipped with purple beard. It was renamed as I. barnumiae in after a plant naming conference in 2011, but is still sometimes named as I. barnumae in some sources. It has one accepted subspecies Iris barnumiae subsp. demawendica and two forms; Iris barnumiae f. protonyma (Stapf) B.Mathew & Wendelbo and Iris barnumiae f. urmiensis (Hoog) B.Mathew & Wendelbo, which has yellow flowers. Sometimes I. barnumiae f. barnumiae is used to describe the basic form.

How to grow it

It is hardy to European H4, (meaning that it is hardy to −5 to −10 °C (or 23 to 14 °F). |Although, it needs habitats that have dry summers, it is considered one of the least demanding of the Oncocyclus section.

For the UK, the iris is better grown within an alpine house, within a raised bed, in a sunny position.

Safety

Like many other irises, most parts of the plant are poisonous (rhizome and leaves), and if mistakenly ingested can cause stomach pains and vomiting. Also, handling the plant may cause skin irritation or an allergic reaction.

Other Iris plants

Iris acutiloba subsp. lineolata · Iris acutiloba · Iris adriatica · Iris afghanica · Iris alberti · Iris albomarginata · Iris alexeenkoi · Single Bract Iris · Iris antilibanotica · Stool iris · Iris arenaria · Iris assadiana

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Iris barnumiae by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

Credits & terms

Identify a plant

Point at a leaf or flower and snap. One plant in frame works best.

Your photo
Starting camera…