German iris

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German iris
Iris germanica 160505.jpg

German Iris ( Iris × germanica )

Systematics
Order : Asparagales (Asparagales)
Family : Iris family (Iridaceae)
Subfamily : Iridoideae
Tribe : Irideae
Genre : Irises ( Iris )
Type : German iris
Scientific name
Iris × germanica
L.

The German Iris ( Iris × germanica ), also known as the Knight Iris , Blue Iris and Real Iris , is a hybrid and belongs to the group of bearded irises.

description

Model of the flower of an iris, Greifswald Botanical Museum

The German Iris is a perennial herbaceous plant that reaches heights of 30 to 80 centimeters. The upright stem is round and not very branched. The leaves are riding in two rows.

The bracts are dry-skinned at the edge. The hermaphrodite flowers are threefold. The outer perigone is dark, the inner light purple (rarely yellow) and only veined at the base. The beard on the outer perigone is yellow. The stamens are as long as the anthers.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 44, less often 24, 34, 48 or 60.

ecology

The German Iris is a hemicryptophyte with a thick, highly branched rhizome . It is thought to be a bastard , but the parents are unknown. With us the plant is sterile and can therefore only be reproduced by dividing the rhizome; in contrast, it is fruitful in the Mediterranean region.

The flowers are threefold: three outer, downwardly curved, long petals ("hanging leaves") are followed in the gaps by three shorter, so-called "standards" that stand upright and curve inwards. The scar lobes with petal-like branches lie over the beards and nestle tightly on the "hanging leaves" by taking a fertile stamen in their middle. Nectar is deposited at the base of this complex. Each individual flower contains three such complexes, which visitors also fly to and pollinate separately. As a result, each seed compartment of the three-part ovary is fertilized separately.

The flowers are pollinated by Hymenoptera ( bumblebees , bees ) and hoverflies . Flowering period: May to June.

Iris × germanica is largely sterile and only forms three-column capsule fruits in exceptional cases after cross-pollination.

Occurrence and distribution

Origin: It is a castle plant, an old "culture" hybrid from the south-east European Iris lutescens s.str. and a clan of the Southeast European-Asia Minor species group around Iris mesopotamica sl

Irises were planted as magic plants to ward off enemies on castle rocks and dug up during sieges and taken to their own castle. This led to the old hybrids like Iris × germanica with her albino ' Florentina ' Iris x sambucina with their clone groups 'squalene', 'Flavescens' and 'Neglecta' and genetically stable crops as Iris pallida (Iris pallida, of Iris pseudopallida descended ) and Iris aphylla sl (Naked-stem iris, descended from Iris furcata ).

Old cottage garden plant, often overgrown and naturalized in Germany since the Middle Ages on vineyard walls and in grassy embankments, on warm, mostly chalky soil. According to Ellenberg , it is a light plant, a dry pointer and a weak order character type of sub-ocean dry and semi-arid grassland ( plant community order Brometalia erecti ).

The German Iris used to be divided into Iris germanica L. var. Germanica (German Iris) and Iris germanica L. var. Florentina Dykes or Iris florentina auct. vix L. (Florentine Iris).

Ingredients and use

blossom

The rhizome (the rhizome), also called "violet root" and "sword root", was previously used therapeutically; however, a healing effect has not been proven.

However, the rhizome still provides material for the perfume industry today, as it contains approx. 0.1-0.2% essential oil. This so-called "violet root oil" is obtained by steam distillation of the peeled, dried and ground root stock. It smells like violets and is high in myristic acid and other fatty acids. The main fragrances are irons. Irons themselves, however, are not contained in the rhizome, but only arise during the extraction process from iridals. Iris oil is one of the most precious natural products. It is therefore only used in very small doses such. B. used for high quality perfumes or for flavoring food, liqueurs, confectionery and baked goods.

The dried rhizome is also used in small pieces as a teething aid for babies.

mythology

Irises are plants of the Greek messenger of the gods Iris, who had to lead the souls of the deceased along a rainbow into the realm of eternal peace. Even today, graves in the Orient are decorated with white or blue irises. In Christian symbolism, the flower iris, also called lilium caeleste (from caelestis : 'heavenly', 'sky blue') became the bearer of divine messages and the rainbow itself became a sign of the new covenant between God and man and a sign of God's willingness to reconcile after the Deluge.

literature

  • Blazek, Milan: “Questions about Iris germanica”. Swiss perennial gardens , 1998, ISSN  1011-5838 .
  • Fritz Köhlein: Iris . Stuttgart: Ulmer, 1981, ISBN 3-8001-6055-2 .
  • Brian Mathew: The Iris . Portland, Oregon: Timber Press, 1990, ISBN 0-88192-162-9 .
  • Mitić, Bożena: Karyological analysis of some populations of the species Iris pallida, I. illyrica and I. pseudopallida (Iridaceae). In: Acta Botanica Croatica Volume 50, 1991, pp. 91-98, ISSN  0365-0588 .
  • Mitić, Bożena, Toni Nikolić, Zlatko Liber: Morphological and anatomical relationships in Alpine-Dinaric populations of the genus Iris L., Pallidae series (A. Kern.) Trinajstić (Iridaceae). In: Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae Volume 69, 2000, pp. 285-291, ISSN  0001-6977 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . With the collaboration of Angelika Schwabe and Theo Müller. 8th, heavily revised and expanded edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 , pp.  141 .
  2. ↑ Heinz Ellenberg : Vegetation of Central Europe with the Alps in an ecological, dynamic and historical perspective. 5th, heavily changed and improved edition. Ulmer, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-8001-2696-6 .
  3. ↑ Robert Zander : Zander hand dictionary of plant names . Ed .: Fritz Encke , Günther Buchheim, Siegmund Seybold . 13th, revised and expanded edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-8001-5042-5 , pp. 304 ff .
  4. ↑ Lutz Roth and Kurt Kormann: Scented plants, plant scents: essential oils and fragrances . Landsberg: ecomed, 1997, ISBN 3-609-65140-7 .
  5. ^ Rudolf Schubert, Günther Wagner: Plant names and botanical technical terms. Botanical lexicon with an “introduction to terminology and nomenclature”, a list of the “author names” and an overview of the “system of plants”. 6th edition. Melsungen / Berlin / Basel / Vienna 1975, p. 108 ( coelestinus ).
  6. ↑ With lily or Middle High German Gilge , both Lilium species (such as the Madonna lily . Cf. for example Jürgen Martin: Die 'Ulmer Wundarznei'. Introduction - text - glossary to a monument to German specialist prose of the 15th century. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 1991 (= Würzburg medical-historical research. Volume 52), ISBN 3-88479-801-4 (also medical dissertation Würzburg 1990), p. 133 ( Gilge )) as iris species (like the German iris).

Web links

Commons : German Iris  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files