Iris westii

Appearance

"Iris westii" has short and compact rhizomes, which are about 3 cm long. Underneath the rhizome are very long secondary roots.

It has up to 6, grey-green leaves, which are lanciform or falcate, or curved, and cutlass-shaped. They are around 5-12 mm wide, 6–8 in long, and will normally die back after the plant has flowered, then they re-grow in the following spring.

It has a cylindrical stem, that can grow up to 30 cm long. The stem also has spathes which slightly inflated at the base and are larger than the perianth.

The solitary flower, blooms in mid-season, during April, or May. The large flower resembles the bloom of "Iris hermona".

Like other irises, it has 2 pairs of petals, 3 large sepals, known as the 'falls' and 3 inner, smaller petals, known as the 'standards'. The standards are between 7–8 cm long, in shades of pale lilac, or beige, or white. They are veined and dotted with violet, or dark lilac blue.

The oval shaped falls, are 7 cm long and 4 cm wide. They come in shades of pale tan, pale yellow, or creamy-white. They are also dotted or blotched and veined in purple-violet, purplish, or chocolate shades. In the centre of the falls, is a signal patch which comes in shades of deep velvety chocolate, or deep violet-black. Also it has row of tiny hairs called the 'beard', which is sparse and purple.

It also has style branches which are 2-3 cm long and have toothed edges.

Distribution

It is native to temperate Asia. It is rare and threatened due to habitat destruction, from military actions, overgrazing by goats and other factors.

Status

Total population size of the iris plants was estimated to be less than 500 mature individuals. As the populations found in the Lebanon mountains and in Jezzine area are very small. Mt. Hermon had a relatively large population of 30 to 60 individual plants.

Therefore it was listed as critically endangered in 2008.

Then similarly to "Iris antilibanotica" and "Iris damascena", it was declared extinct in 2009 in Lebanon, by Saad et al.. Although the IUCN Redlist has reported that the iris has 4 declining populations in 2016 within the southern part of the Lebanon Mountains ridge and from near Jezzine.

Both of these areas are still littered with landmines, a leftover after the recent war. See Syrian Civil War spillover in Lebanon between 2011 and 2017. Making the locations both not very accessible.

The plant is still threatened by continuing military activities in the area, overgrazing by goats, crop growing and aquaculture. Also the effects from climate change, which is reducing snow-cover and water availability. These various factors are all thought to be contributing to habitat degradation in Lebanon.

Habitat

It is native to temperate Asia. It grows on the rocky, limestone mountain slopes within open sub-alpine scrubland.

The plants can be found at an altitudes of between 750–1,200 m above sea level, which is quite rare for an Oncocyclus species iris.

Defense

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