Authors: Boiss.
About 7-10cm tall in flower. Leaves usually two per plant, sometimes one or three, four-angled in cross section to 30cm or more when mature. Flowers rich yellow with some greenish spotting, the standards reduced to bristles and the falls ascending, creating a not fully open look. Nevertheless, a most attractive species, blooming before the leaves in late winter. Turkey, on exposed stony slopes or in sparse coniferous forests mostly near the snowline, 1000-2000m. In cultivation, each bulb splits into one or more offsets and several to many tiny bulblets. It is worthwhile starting a small colony and adding freshly purchased bulbs to it for two or three autumns. Thereafter, offsets and bulblets will come to maturity and flower each year. Beware slug damage in mild seasons. Recent importations differ markedly from the standard trade form and seem less susceptible to 'splitting.'
a, I. danfordiae; b, I. heweri; c, I. histrio; d, I. pamphylica; e, I. winogradowii;
