Iridaceae	01	Floral Formula	01-Floral formula	The Iridaceae has 3-merous flowers — 3 sepals, 3 petals, 3 stamens, and a syncarpous gynoecium of 3 carpels. The ovary is inferior.	 
Iridaceae	02	Introduction	02-Introduction	The Iridaceae is widespread in temperate, subtropical, and tropical climates. There are about 90 genera and 2,000 species.	
Iridaceae	03	Corm	03-Crocus corm	Most members of the Iridaceae are herbaceous perennials with some kind of underground perennating structure. In <I>Crocus</I>, shown here, this is a corm. Other genera have rhizomes, such as most species of <I>Iris</I>, or bulbs.	Photo taken by D. L. Nickrent.
Iridaceae	04	Rhizome	04-Iris rhizome	Most species of the genus <I>Iris</I> have rhizomes, as seen here.	Photo taken by K. R. Robertson of plants cultivated in his yard.
Iridaceae	05	Equitant leaves	05-Equitant leaves	The leaves in the genus <I>Iris</I> are <B>equitant </B>&#151; that is they are 2-ranked and folded in half lengthwise. The yellow arrow shows where there is one leaf overlapped another, and the two surfaces are not fused. The magenta arrow shows the area where the two surfaces of the folded leaf have become adnate.	Photo taken by K. R. Robertson of plants cultivated at the University of Illinois. 
Iridaceae	06	Equitant leaves	06- Equitant leaves	This set of drawings show how the leaves of <I>Iris</I> are at first folded over, they the two upper surfaces fuse together. When you look at a mature leaf, both sides of the leaf are actually the lower leaf surface!	
Iridaceae	07	Iris habit	07-Iris habit	The genus <I>Iris</I>, like most Iridaceae, are herbaceous perennials. The cultivated Iris has many different flower colors.	Photo taken by K. R. Robertson at the Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
Iridaceae	08	Iris habit	08-Iris habit	Here is a dwarf Iris in flower. Again note the equitant leaves. In the genus <I>Iris</I>, the sepals, petals, and STYLES are all colorful.	Photo taken by K. R. Robertson of plants cultivated at the University of Illinois.
Iridaceae	09	Iris flower	09- Iris flower	This is a close-up of a cultived <I>Iris</I>. There are 3 sepals, 3 petals, 3 stamens, and 3 petaloid styles. Note the relationships of these parts to one another. This flower is from a group of cultivated <I>Iris</I> that have a "beard" or zone of hairs, on the upper surface of the sepals. 	Photo taken by K. R. Robertson at Robert Allerton Park of the University of Illinois.
Iridaceae	10	Iris flower l.s.	10-Iris flower l.s	In this longitudinal section of a flower of <I>Iris cristata,</I> note how the sepal, stamen, and petaloid style are opposite each other and form a constricted space for pollinators. Also note the stigmatic flap on the inner surface of each style branch.	Photo taken by K. R. Robertson of plants cultivated in his yard.
Iridaceae	11			<I>Iris</I> are often pollinated by bees. In this example, you can see the three stages that occurs in pollination.<P><UL><LI>1. A bee lands on the sepal and starts to crawl in between the sepal and petaloid style branch.<LI>2. As the bee enters the constricted area, the stigmatic flap on the style branch scraps off any pollen that may be on the insect's back.<LI>3. As the bee fully enters the flower in search of nectar, the anther deposits fresh pollen on the insect's back.</UL>	Photo taken by K. R. Robertson at the Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis.
Iridaceae	12	Bearded iris	12-Bearded iris	The flowers of the cultivated bearded <I>Iris</I> are very beautiful and also have a wonderful fragrance.	Photo taken by K. R. Robertson from plants cultivated in his yard when he living in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.
Iridaceae	13	Iris fruits	13-Iris fruits	The fruits of <I>Iris</I>, and most other Iridaceae, are loculicidal capsules. In this particular example, <I>Iris foetidissima</I> from Europe, the seeds are brilliant orange	Photo taken by K. R. Robertson at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Iridaceae	14	Iris fruits	This is a closer view of a loculicidal capsule of <I>Iris foetidissima.</I> 	14-Iris fruits	Photo taken by K. R. Robertson at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Iridaceae	15	Iris fulva	15-Iris fulva	The copper iris, <I>Iris fulva</I>, is native to swamps in the southern part of Illinois. This flower color is very striking.	Photo taken by K. R. Robertson in southern Illinois.
Iridaceae	16	Iris sibirica	16-Iris sibirica	The Siberian Iris,<I> Iris siberica</I>, is widely cultivated for its lovely flowers which are NOT bearded.	Photo taken by K. R. Robertson cultivated in his yard in Champaign, Illinois.
Iridaceae	17	Crocus	17-Crocus	The genus <I>Crocus</I> is widely cultivated for the flowers that emerge from the ground early in the spring. Crocus has "normal" rather than petaloid styles.	Photo taken by K. R. Robertson from plants cultivated in his yard when he living in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.
Iridaceae	18	Saffron	18-Saffron	The spice saffron comes from the stigmas of <I>Crocus sativus. </I>This species flowers in autumn and is native to southern Europe and Asia Minor. The stigmas are the part of the plant that are harvested for saffron. It takes about 210,000 stigmas from 70,000 flowers to make one pound of saffron. Hence, it is very expensive, actually more expensive than gold. Saffron has a pleasantly spicy, slightly bitter flavor, and a characteristic odor. It is used especially to add color and flavor to rice dishes; saffron is an essential ingredient in Spanish paella.	
Iridaceae	18	Gladiolus	19-Gladiolus	Another frequently seen member of the Iridaceae is the genus <I>Gladiolus</I>, which are cultivated for their long spikes of large flowers.	Photo taken by K. R. Robertson at Monticello, Virginia.