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Botanical Description

About 15-25cm in height. Leaves falcate, 2-4mm wide. Flowers to 10cm in diameter, with short, narrow, horizontal to somewhat arching, extensively bearded falls and very large erect, rounded standards. The colour varies greatly; the falls may be blackish-violet to golden yellow and the standards white with darker veins to uniform deepest purple, pale blue or pale yellow, early summer. Turkey, Iran and adjacent Russia on stony hillsides at 1200-2000m. Lp. forma choschah is perhaps the commonest form in cultivation, having black-purple falls and white, dark veined standards. Alpine house, fairly easy to grow.

a, I. iberica; b, I. paradoxa; c, I. sari;