Appearance
It has a thick creeping rhizome.It has grey-green leaves that are more or less the same height as the flowering stems, but as the leaves droop, they appear shorter. The linear, narrow leaves grow between 20 and 60 cm long and 5–13 mm wide.
It has a hollow unbranched flowering stem, that grows up to between 30 and 90 cm long.
The stems bear two to three flowers, at the terminal ends in early summer, between May and July.
It has three green spathes, that are reddish at the base, measuring 5–7 cm long and 1 cm wide. It then has a brown papery tip.
The flowers come in a range of reddish-purple shades, from blue to blue-purple, red-violet, with a rare white variants. The flowers are 6–8 cm in diameter.
It has two pairs of petals, three large sepals, known as the 'falls' and three inner, smaller petals. The large obovate, drooping 'falls' have reddish-purple veins on a white or yellowish signal.
The smaller, erect obovate standards are 4–5 cm long and 1.5 cm wide.
It has perianth tube of 8–10 mm long, 3 cm long white filaments, yellow anthers, a cylindric ovary 1.5–2 cm long by 3–4 mm wide, and a reddish-purple style branches 3.5 cm long by 5 mm wide.
In July and September, it produces a seed capsule, which is ellipsoid or cylindric in form and measures 3.5–5 cm long by 1.2–1.5 cm wide.
Naming
A 2020 taxonomic revision suggests that previously distinguished taxa of "Iris sanguinea" and "Iris sibirica" bear no phylogenetic nor morphological distinction. As such, name "I. sanguinea" was synonymized with "I. siberica".Distribution
"Iris sanguinea" is native to the temperate regions of eastern Asia.Habitat
"Iris sanguinea" is native to the temperate regions of eastern Asia.It grows in damp meadows, along the edges of rivers and lakes, on the edges of forests, beside streams and on hillsides, at altitudes of around 500 metres above sea level.Defense
As in many other irises, most parts of the plant are poisonous or toxic; if mistakenly ingested, it can cause stomach pains and vomiting. Also handling the plant may cause a skin irritation or an allergic reaction.References:
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