Iridaceae

I. masia Stapf ex Foster in The Garden 61:288 (1902); Dykes in Gard. Chron. ser. 3, 47:99 & 147 (1910).Syn: /. grant-duffii Baker subsp. masia (Stapf ex Foster) Dykes, Genus Iris 45 (1913); /. grant-duffii Baker var. caeruleo-violacea Gombault in Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr. 93:146 (1946);/. caeruleo-violacea (Gombault) Mouterde, Nouv. Fl. lib. Syr. 1:312 (1966). Ic: Mathew, The Iris b. & w. t. 24 (1981). Map 56.
Plant 35-70 cm. Rhizome compact, ± vertical, covered with reticulate-fibrous tunics and furnished with spiny bristles; leaf bases swollen, producing a bulb-like structure. Leaves 6-8, exceeding or equalling flowers, flat, tough, with many prominent veins, greyish-green, 0.3-0.6 cm broad. Stem un-branched. Bracts and bracteoles 10-18.5 cm, narrow and long-attenuate at apex, green with a membranous margin. Perianth tube c. 0.5-0.6 cm. Flowers solitary, violet-blue with lower part of lamina and claw of falls veined and spotted violet on a whitish or greenish ground; falls 5-6 cm, lamina ovate, obtuse, 1-1.6 cm broad, narrowing to a claw 3.5-4 x 0.5-0.7 cm; standards oblanceolate, 4.5-6 x 0.6-1.2 cm, subacute with a long-cuneate base; style branches 4.5-5.3 x 0.8 cm, with narrowly lanceolate acute lobes 1,5-2 x0.3-0.4 cm. Capsule cylindrical-ellipsoid, 4.5-7 x 1-1.6 cm, with a short beak. Fl. 5. Fields, in volcanic steppe, 750-1050 m.
Type: "Asia Minor", cult, material sent to II. Foster by M. Leichtlin (specimen not traced, although the origin is probably Sintenis 1219 from C7 Urfa: mt. Masia (Karaca Da.), Siverek, collected in 1888 (K! P, W).
E. Anatolia (Mesopotamia). C6 Gaziantep: Kizjlhisar De., 30 km S. of Gaziantep on Kilis road, 750 m, D. 28015! C7 Urfa: W. foot of Karaca Da. 25 km from Siverek to Diyarbakir, 1050 m, D. 28276! C8 Diyarbakir: 10 km from Diyarbakir to Ergani, 750 m, D. 28808!
N. Syrian Desert. Ir.-Tur. element. Related to /. grant-duffii Baker and /. melanosticta Bornm., both of which have yellow flowers. The former occurs in coastal regions of Palestine and Syria, the latter in southern Syria.
/. aschersonii Foster is also similar and is said to have been collected by Siehe in Cilicia near Adana. There is a Siehe specimen of 1907 in the Post Herbarium, Geneva, which has yellow flowers, with slender purple veins. The plant has apparently not been recollected and until further material of known origin is obtained it is difficult to be sure of its true status.