	Botany and Botanical Art Education
	HOME	ABOUT AP	HERBARIUM	RESOURCES	STORE	CONTACT	SITEMAP

Herbarium

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Introduction
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Amaryllis
Arum
Iris
Lily
Orchid
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

We honor your Privacy!

Iris Family (monocot) -- Iridaceae

Family Characteristics

Characteristic	Description
Sepals	3 – which look like petals [see Fig. 1 (large )]
Petals	3 [see Fig. 1 (large )]
Flowers	Emerging from bracts; solitary or in an inflorescence (cluster of flowers arranged in some way along a central axis) [see Fig. 1 (large )]
Stamens	3 [see Fig. 2 (large )]
Style/Stigma	1 style, 3 stigmas [see Fig. 1 (large )]
Ovary	Inferior, has three locules (chambers), ovules are attached to the placenta. When the ovules are attached in this way, this arrangement is called axile placentation [see Fig. 3 (large )]. The word axile refers to the central axis of the ovary.
Fruit	Capsule (a dry fruit that has split at the seams and has more than one chamber of seeds)
Leaves	Sword-shaped, parallel veins, usually basal (originating from the base), flat, and enfold each other. The term that is used to describe flat leaves that enfold each other is equitant [see Fig. 4 (large )]
Roots	Fibrous (from rhizomes [see Fig. 5 (large )], corms [see Fig. 6 (large )], or bulbs [see Fig. 7 (large )])

Download .pdf file of this family [size = 840 kb]

Get Acrobat Reader

iris images

What’s Going On? (Details of interest to the botanical artist)

Flat leaves in one plane (line drawing) [see Fig. 8 (large )]
Flat leaves in one plane (tonal drawing) [see Fig. 8 (large )]
Iris flower (line drawing) [see Fig. 9 (large )]
Iris flower (tonal drawing) [see Fig. 10 (large )]
Flower Stem [see Fig. 11 (large )]
Ovary [see Fig. 12 (large )]
Ovary x.s. [see Fig. 12 (large )]
Study of standards [see Fig. 13 (large )]
Leaf rubbing [see Fig. 14 (large )]

Landscape & Cut Flower Equivalents

Gladiolus spp. (flower) [see Fig. 15 (large )], reproductive parts [see Fig. 16 (large )]
Freesia spp. (flower) [see Fig. 17 (large )], whole plant [see Fig. 18 (large )]
Crocus spp. (flower) [see Fig. 19 (large )], whole plant [see Fig. 20 (large )]

Selected Resources for this Family

American Iris Society http://www.irises.org

Information about iris varieties, growing irises, iris societies, and more. Many links.

Glimn-Lacy, Janice and Peter B. Kaufman. 1984. Botany Illustrated. International Thomson Publishing. ISBN: 0-412-07871-6

Artists can read about the Iridaceae and color five illustrations in order to learn the parts of an iris before beginning their own iris drawing (p. 129).

Hickey, Michael and Clive King. 2002. The Cambridge Illustrated Glossary of Botanical Terms. Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 0-521-79401-3

Labeled illustration of a rhizome (p. 58); cross-section of equitant leaves (p. 101); labeled illustrations of iris flowers (p. 156).

Hogan, Sean. 2003. Flora: The Gardener's Bible. Global Book Publishing. ISBN: 1-74048-097-X

Artists will appreciate the descriptions and many photographs for the genus Iris (pp. 739-756).

L.H. Bailey Hortorium, Cornell University. 1976. Hortus Third: A Concise Dictionary of Plants Cultivated in the United States and Canada. Reprinted in 2000 by Barnes & Noble, Inc. ISBN: 0-7607-2116-5

Brief, yet thorough, description of the Iridaceae (p. 598); illustrations of the following plants: Crocus, Belamcanda, Tigridia, Iris, and Gladiolus (p. 599).

Phillips, Roger & Martyn Rix. 2002. The Botanical Garden (Vol. I): Perennials and Annuals. Firefly Books. ISBN: 1-55297-592-4

Seventeen pages of beautiful color photographs of representative genera in the Iridaceae (pp. 438-455).

USDA, NRCS. 2002. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.5 (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA

Information about several species of irises are available. Do a Common Name Search for iris.

Watson, L. and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The Families of Flowering Plants: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval. Version: 14th December 2000. http://biodiversity.uno.edu/delta/

This database of flowering plant families is comprised of detailed technical information. The illustrations provided for viewing at the bottom of the page for the Iridaceae are sure to please any botanical artist. http://biodiversity.uno.edu/delta/angio/www/iridacea.htm

Zomlefer, Wendy B. 1994. Guide to Flowering Plant Families. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN: 0-8078-4470-5

Detailed description of the Iridaceae (p. 273); illustrations of Sisyrinchium and Iris (p. 279).