Khangkhui Bamboo Iris is a perennial herb with rhizomes thick,
about 1 cm in diameter, nodes distinct. It is is named after Sir
George Watt (1851-1930), who first collected it from Khangkhui hill in
Ukhrul distt of Manipur. Stems are
50-100 x 1-1.5 cm, flattened, with prominent scars and bases of old
leaf sheaths. Leaves are 10 or more clustered into a branch-end fan,
yellowish green, broadly sword-shaped, 50-70 x 5-7 cm, veins about 10,
tip tapering. Flowering stems with 5-7 short, stout branches near tip,
30-50 cm; spathes 3-5, green, narrowly ovate, 1.5-2.5 x about 1 cm,
2-6-flowered, tip blunt. Flowers are bluish violet, 7.5-8 cm in
diameter, flower-stalks 1.5-3 cm, stout, persistent. Perianth tube is
about 2 cm; outer segments obovate, mottled darker, or with linear
patterns around irregular, yellowish crest, 4.5-6 x 2.4-4 cm, margin
wavy; inner segments spreading, narrowly obovate, 3.5-4 x 1-1.3 cm.
Stamens are about 3 cm; anthers yellow. Ovary is green, 7-8 mm. Style
branches pale blue, 3-3.5 cm x 8-10 mm; at branch-ends lobes fringed.
Capsule is cylindric, 2.8-4.5 x 1.3-1.5 cm, tip with a short sharp
point but not beaked. Seeds are brown, semiround. Khangkhui Bamboo Iris is found
in Xizang, Yunnan, NE India, Myanmar. Flowering: April-June.
Identification
credit: Darrell Probst
Photographed in cultivation.
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The flower labeled Khangkhui Bamboo Iris is ...