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'''Iris pallida''' Dalmatian iris, Sweet iris; native to the Illyrian coast (former Yugoslavia) but widely naturalised elsewhere. Iris pallida is cultivated for extraction of essential oils from its rhizome orris root. Prefers rocky places in the mediterranean and submediterranean zone and reaches sometimes montane regions at its southern range in Montenegro. Four varieties (regularly described as separate species) are recognised with one possible new alpine species having white flowers. The variety with deep purplish flowers from Northern Italy and the Slovenian alps is called Iris cengialti.
It is a member of the subgenus iris, meaning that it is a bearded iris, and grows from a rhizome.
It grows to a stem height of 50 to 80 centimeters. The leaves are bluish-green in color, and sword-shaped, 40 to 50 centimeters in length, and 2.5 to 3 centimeters in width.

The inflorescence, produced in May/June, is fan-shaped and contains two or three flowers.

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Varieties

References

Varieties

Three varieties of Iris pallida s.l. are recognised by some authors as species: '''Iris pallida''' ssp. '''cengialti''' from Slovenia, '''Iris pallida''' ssp. '''illyrica''' from the North Dalmatian coast, '''Iris pallida''' ssp. '''pseudopallida''' from the South Dalmatian coast.

References