Orjen Iris
| Iris orjenii | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Iridaceae |
| Subfamily: | Iridoideae |
| Tribe: | Irideae |
| Genus: | Iris |
| Subgenus: | Iris |
| Species: | I. orjenii |
| Binomial name | |
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Iris orjenii Bräuchler & Cikovac |
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| Synonyms | |
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Iris orienii (lapsus) |
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Iris orienii (lapsus)
Iris orjenii, (the Orjen Iris), is a rare species of iris found in Montenegro and Hercegovina on the karst landscape of Mt. Orjen. It grows in the wild on grassy slopes at 1,500 to 1,700 m (4,900 to 5,600 ft), in sunny or semi-shaded locations within Bosnian Pine communities. It is a member of the subgenus iris, meaning that it is a bearded iris, and grows from a rhizome.
It has a fibrous and branched rhizome. The herbaceous leaves are bluish-green in color, and sword-shaped, and grow up to between 35–50 cm (14–20 in) long, and 2.5 to 3 cm in width. It has a slender stem or peduncle, that can grow up to between 30–50 cm (12–20 in) tall, and has several branches. The inflorescence (or blooms), are produced in April, or June, they are fan-shaped and contains two or three white flowers, with a purple mark.
Iris orjenii is exclusiveley confined to an extensive folded limestone mountain located at the most indented portion of the Adriatic coast, the fjord like Bay of Kotor. Heavy glaciated during the period, glaciokarstic morphology dominates the higher portions of the mountain. Outstanding for intense precipitation averaging 5000 mm/a (maxima >8000 mm/a), Mt. Orjen has by far the highest amount of rainfall in the Mediterranean and also one of the highest in Europe.
The taxon shows a significant syntaxonomic affinity to open altimediterranean pastures within the Seslerion robustae alliance and open Mediterranean mountainous coniferous Pine woodland - Pinion heldreichii alliances. The examined partial populations grow under similar conditions on south facing slopes with abundant light. The new species is restricted to humid chromic luvic cambisols and rendzic leptosols at localities above tree line in the oro- to altimediterranean lifezone between 1550 and 1750 m in the eastern Orjen.
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