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Iris timofejewii
Timofeev's Iris is a small rhizomatous perennial from dry, rocky mountain slopes in the Caucasus, with grey-green sickle-shaped leaves and violet flowers in late spring. It grows best in a sunny, well-drained rockery with a hot, dry summer rest.
Iris timofejewii is a species of flowering plant in the genus Iris, and also in the subgenus Iris. It is a rhizomatous perennial, from the mountain slopes of the Caucasus and Dagestan. It has narrow, evergreen, falcate (sickle-shaped), grey-green (glaucous) leaves, and a short flowering stem just taller than the leaves. Each stem has 1–2 flowers in shades of violet, with white beards that have purple tips. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant in temperate regions.
Iris timofejewii prefers to grow in scree-like soils, in full sun, with low humidity (or in dry soils). It can be grown within garden rockeries. It needs a dry and warm summer to rest and to re-flower the next season. The species was tested for hardiness in the Russian botanical gardens of Alma-Ata, Baku, Bakuriani, Tallinn and Tbilisi. An attempt was tried to grow the iris in West Germany and the US (near New York City), but they were unsuccessful, due to high humidity conditions.
It can normally only be found for cultivation in specialised iris nurseries. Irises can generally be propagated by division, or by seed growing. Seeds can be distributed around by ants and birds, which take between 2–3 years to germinate.
Like many other irises, most parts of the plant are poisonous (rhizome and leaves), and if mistakenly ingested can cause stomach pains and vomiting. Handling the plant may cause skin irritation or an allergic reaction.
Iris timofejewii is native to temperate regions of Asia, specifically the Eastern Caucasus, and is endemic to Dagestan, (including the districts of Akhvakhskiy, Akhtynskiy Botlikhskiy, Gumbetovskiy, Gunibskiy, Karabudakhkentskiy, Levashinskiy, Shamilskiy, Tsumadisnkiy, and Untsukulskiy,) a republic of Russia.
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 timofejewii 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.
