Iris ludwigii

Iris ludwigii
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Iridaceae
Subfamily: Iridoideae
Tribe: Irideae
Genus: Iris
Subgenus: Iris subg. Limniris
Series: Iris series Spuriae
Species: Iris ludwigii
Binomial name
Iris ludwigii
Maxim.
Synonyms
  • Chamaeiris ludwigii (Maxim.) M.B.Crespo
  • Xyridion ludwigii (Maxim.) Rodion.[1]

Iris ludwigii, with the common name Ludwig Iris, is a species in the genus Iris. It is also in the subgenus of Iris subg. Limniris and in series Spuriae. It is a bulbous perennial plant with violet-blue flowers. It is native to the Altai Mountains in Central Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan meet. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant in temperate regions.

Description

Iris ludwigii is similar in form to Iris pontica, but differs in shape and size of the rhizome.[2]

It has a stout, creeping rhizome.[3] That forms compact and often crowded plants.[2]

It has between 2 and 4, linear, grass-like, lanceolate, 20–40 cm (8–16 in) long,[4][5][6] and 5mm wide leaves.[3] The leaves have 3-7 veins.[3][6]

It has very variable sized stems that can be obsolete or underground,[2] or 2–3 cm long,[3][7] or up to 10–20 cm (4–8 in) cm long.[4][5]

It has lanceolate and green, paper-like spathes (leaves of the flower bud).[2][3][6]

The stems hold 1-2 terminal (top of stem) flowers,[2][3][4] between May and June.[3][6] The flowers last on the plant between 6–8 days.[6]

It has flowers that are 5–6 cm (2–2 in) in diameter,[6] that are violet-blue.[3][4][5][6][7] It has 2 pairs of petals, 3 large sepals (outer petals), known as the 'falls' and 3 inner, smaller petals (or tepals, known as the 'standards'.[8] The falls are lanceolate, with white marks and violet-blue veining. In the centre of the falls is covered with short unicellular hairs,[3] (looking similar to a yellow beard).[4][5] The standards are erect, narrow and oblong.[3]

It has a slender filiform (thread-like), perianth tube.[3][6]

It has linear style branches, that white with violet-blue tips.[3] It has yellow or white filaments and orange anthers.[3][6]

After the iris has flowered, it produces a seed capsule (not described) between August and September.[6]

Biochemistry

As most irises are diploid, having two sets of chromosomes. This can be used to identify hybrids and classification of groupings.[8] It has a chromosome count: 2n=38.[7]

In 2003, a study was carried out on the chromosome sequencing of various Irises from the Siberian region of central Asia. They sequenced the rbcL gene from some Siberian Iris species belonging to different subgenera including, Iris halophila, Iris ludwigi, Iris uniflora, Iris pseudacorus, Iris glaucescens, Iris tigridia, and Iris laevigata. Their results supported Brian Mathew’s classification from 1989. That Iris halophila and Iris ludwigii form a cluster.[9]

Taxonomy

The Latin specific epithet ludwigii refers to the 18th century Professor of natural history and medicine, Christian Gottlieb Ludwig.[10]

It has the common name of Ludwig Iris.[11][12][13]

It was originally published and described by Karl Johann Maximowicz in the 'Bulletin of the Academy of Imperial Science, Saint-Pétersburg Vol.26 pages508-509 in 1880.[14]

It was later published in Mélanges Biol. Bull. Phys.-Math. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Pétersbourg Vol.10 page721 in 1880 (Diagn. pl. nov. asiat.).[15]

In his book (Iris,1913) William Rickatson Dykes was once thought Iris ludwigii to a form of Iris humilis with stoloniferous rhizomes, the Academy of Imperial Science, Saint-Pétersburg did not agree with this.[3] It was later treated as a separate species by Brian Mathew.[5] Georgi Rodionenko had proposed Series Ludwigia for this species.[7] But after chromosomal studies were carried out it was then placed in Series Spuriae.[9]

It was mentioned in 'Vascular Plants of Russia and Adjacent States (the Former USSR)'.[16]

It was verified by United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service on 4 April 2003.[15]

Distribution and habitat

Iris ludwigii is native to temperate regions of Asia.[14][15]

Range

It is found in Altai Mountains,[2][4][7][14] between east Kazakhstan,[6][13][17] and Siberia,[7][14] and Altai Republic in Russia.[3][15]

It is listed with Iris bloudowii, Iris psammocola, Iris ruthenica, Iris sibirica, Iris tenuifolia and Iris tigridia as being found in the Altai-Sayan region (where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together).[18]

It is also found in the Altai-Dzungarian region of the Altai mountains (between Mongolia and China).[19]

Habitat

It grows on the steppes,[2] in meadows, in thickets of Stipa splendens, and on gravelly slopes.[3][6]

Conservation

It is listed in the IUCN Red Book of the Altai Territory.[6]

It is at risk due to the effects of cattle grazing, ploughing and other farming methods.[13]

In April 2005, a Working draft of Species Action Plan for Iris ludwigii was created for the at risk plants on the Altai Mountains.[20]

It is mentioned as one of the 17 species of plants are included in the 'Red Book of Kazakhstan', and they are: Steppe peony (Paeonia hybrida), Spring asphodel, (Adonis vernalis), Pink rhodiola (Rhodiola rosea), Altai rhubarb (Rheum altaicum), Altai daphne (Daphne altaica), Snow (Macropodium nivale), Siberian adder's-tongue (Erythronium sibiricum), Maral root (Rhaponticum carthamoides), Vereschagin (Limnas veresczaginii), Heteropetals tulip (Tulipa heteropetala), Small-fruit cranberry (Oxycoccus microcarpus), (Cymbaria dahyrica), Altai anthrax (Sibiraea altaiensis), Stemless (Leiospora excapa), Altai gimnospermium (Gimnospermium altaicum) and Fir club moss (Lycopodium selago). 5 species of plant were put into the 'Red Book of Russian Federation', they are Steppe peony (Paeonia hybrida), Altai rhubarb (Rheum altaicum), Altai daphne (Daphne altaica), Ludwig iris (Iris ludwigii) and Siberian adder's-tongue (Erythronium sibiricum).[11][12]

Cultivation

Iris ludwigii is cultivated as an ornamental plant for gardens. It prefers locations in full sun, on soils with good drainage.[2]

In nature and in cultivation, it was found that the plant, flowers but they are sterile with underdeveloped stamens. Therefore, does not produce seeds.[11]

It is hardy enough to grow and be cultivated in the botanical gardens of Barnaul, Novosibirsk and Chita, Zabaykalsky Kra, in Russia. It was trialled at The Botanical Garden of St. Petersburg in 1971. It bloomed three times but then died after flowering.[11]

Propagation

It can be propagated by division or by seed growing.[6]

References

  1. "Iris ludwigii Maxim. is an accepted name". theplantlist.org (The Plant List). 23 March 2013. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Kramb, D (28 March 2005). "Iris ludwigii". signa.org (Species Iris Group of North America). Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Komarov, V.L. (1935). "Akademiya Nauk SSSR (FLORA of the U.S.S.R.) Vol. IV". archive.org. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cassidy, George E.; Linnegar, Sidney (1987). Growing Irises (Revised ed.). Bromley: Christopher Helm. ISBN 0-88192-089-4.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Franco, Alain (29 November 2013). "(SPEC) Iris Ludwigii Maxim". wiki.irises.org (American Iris Society). Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Silanteva., M.M. "IRIS LUDWIGII MAXIM. - IRIS (iris) Ludwig". lesnoj-atlas.com. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Iris summary" (PDF). pacificbulbsociety.org. 14 April 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
  8. 1 2 Austin, Claire. "Irises A Garden Encyclopedia" (pdf). worldtracker.org. pp. 274–275. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  9. 1 2 Makarevitch, Irina; Golovnina, Kseniya; Scherbik, Svetlana; Blinov, Alexander (2003). "Phylogenetic Relationships of the Siberian Iris Species Inferred from Noncoding Chloroplast DNA Sequences". Int. J. Plant Sci. The University of Chicago. 164 (2): 229–237. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  10. "Searching Dave's Garden". davesgarden.com. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  11. 1 2 3 4 "The exhibition "Iris Russia"". flower-iris.ru. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  12. 1 2 "Burkhatskiy Pass". kazakhstan.orexca.com. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  13. 1 2 3 Doronkin, B. M. "Iris (Iris) Ludwig (Iris ludwigii)". calc.ru. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  14. 1 2 3 4 "Iridaceae Iris ludwigii Maxim.". ipni.org (International Plant Names Index). Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  15. 1 2 3 4 "Taxon: Iris ludwigii Maxim.". ars-grin.gov (Germplasm Resources Information Network). Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  16. Sergeĭ Kirillovich Cherepanov (1981)Vascular Plants of Russia and Adjacent States (the Former USSR) &pg=PA280 Up0XgqTk2pkC , p. 280, at Google Books
  17. "Red Book (Flora) 2". innature.kz. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  18. "Biodiversity of Altai-Sayan Ecoregion". bioaltai-sayan.ru. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  19. Olonova, Marina V.; Zhang, Daoyuan; Duan, Shiming; Yin, Linke; Pan, Borong (2010). "Rare and endangered plant species of the Chinese Altai Mountains" (PDF). Journal of Arid Land. 2 (3): 222–230. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  20. "Darwin Initiative for the Survival of Species Project: 162 / 11 / 025 Cross-border conservation strategies for Altai Mountain endemics (Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan) Annual Report (Year 3)" (PDF). darwininitiative.org.uk. April 2005. Retrieved 11 February 2015.

Other sources

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.