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Libertia grandiflora, known as mikoikoi or New Zealand iris, is a perennial herb from the Iris family, native to the North Island of New Zealand. It grows best in partial shade in moist, well-drained soil and is grown in gardens as a tough, clump-forming ornamental.
Libertia grandiflora, commonly known as mikoikoi and the New Zealand iris, is a species of flowering plant in the family Iridaceae. It is endemic to New Zealand; its range covers the North Island. Although specimens from the South Island were previously classified under L. grandiflora, they have since been reassigned to a newly established taxon. L. grandiflora is commonly found in lowland to montane areas with partial shade; it inhabits bluffs, cliffs, ridgelines, slopes, and the banks or terraces of streams. A perennial herb, it reaches 900 mm in height with leaves reaching 1400 mm in length. The species was first described by the botanist Robert Sweet in 1830. It gets its specific epithet, grandiflora, meaning 'large flowered'.
L. grandiflora is endemic to New Zealand. Its range covers the North Island, where it is widespread from North Cape to Wellington, although the plant appears to be absent on the Volcanic Plateau. In the South Island, according to Moore (1967), the plant is not known to grow south of the Nelson and Marlborough Regions. Blanchon et al. (2002) described the South Island species as Libertia mooreae, as such, researchers claim that there are taxonomically no true L. grandiflora specimens in the South Island. L. grandiflora's 2023 assessment in the New Zealand Threat Classification System was "Not Threatened".
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Libertia grandiflora 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.
