Species
+

Iris unguicularis Poir.

Algerian Iris, winter-flowering iris

Climate known 74 photographs Bulb, tuber or caudex
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Iris unguicularis, the Algerian iris, is a rhizomatous flowering plant in the genus Iris, native to Algeria, Greece, Turkey, Western Syria, and Tunisia. It grows to 30 centimetres (12 in), with grassy evergreen leaves, producing pale lilac or purple flowers with a central band of yellow on the falls. The flowers appear in winter and early spring. They are fragrant, with pronounced perianth tubes up to 20 cm (7.9 in) long.

Text from Wikipedia, “Iris unguicularis”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

Family
Iridaceae
Described by
Poir.
Native to
Greece, Kriti, Algeria +5
Wild records
951 in range· 531 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Aug, mean day; nights 21 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
841mm/yr
9 wet months · peak Dec 160 mm (CHELSA)
Light
13–48DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a bulb, tuber or caudex by the genus Iris, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a winter growing season, October to February in the northern hemisphere (October to February at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 841 mm a year, wettest December at 160 mm, driest July at 6 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 13 to 48 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 4.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Iris cretica Herb. ex Baker; Siphonostylis unguicularis (Poir.) Wern.Schulze.

Cultivation

Grouped as a bulb, tuber or caudex by the genus Iris, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: a winter growing season, October to February in the northern hemisphere (October to February at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the year's rain (617 mm of 841 mm) falls in October to February, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 12.4 °C against a yearly mean of 16.6 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: April to August.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 841 mm a year, wettest December at 160 mm, driest July at 6 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

841 mm a year at the habitat, 617 mm of it October to February. Wettest month December at 160 mm, driest July at 6 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 570 mm to 1195 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 13 to 48 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 13 to 48 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 11, the highest 90th-percentile month 51).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 4.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 4.3 °C, the absolute minimum 0.8 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.9 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 5.7 °C in February (across the envelope cells -0.1 °C to 10.1 °C), warmest day 28.4 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 4.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 53 to 62% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 11 °C in Jan to 28 °C in Aug; mean night from 6 °C in Feb to 21 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Jan to Mar, is the three months around the coldest night. 841 mm of rain a year, most in Dec. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 483 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 0.8 °C and the 99th-percentile day 32.9 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost32.9° 99th-percentile day (undated)0.8° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 13–48RH 53–62 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 483 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C11 / 8–1412 / 8–1414 / 11–1617 / 14–2021 / 19–2426 / 22–2828 / 24–3228 / 25–3225 / 23–2821 / 19–2416 / 13–1913 / 9–15
Night °C6 / 0–116 / -0–107 / 2–1110 / 5–1314 / 9–1718 / 13–2121 / 16–2321 / 16–2419 / 13–2215 / 10–1911 / 5–158 / 2–12
Rain mm127 / 88–219104 / 69–16278 / 57–11754 / 32–8231 / 16–5811 / 3–236 / 1–1710 / 1–2234 / 12–6381 / 46–118145 / 83–201160 / 98–239
DLI16 / 13–1821 / 19–2430 / 27–3338 / 36–4044 / 42–4648 / 47–5148 / 46–5043 / 41–4634 / 32–3825 / 22–2817 / 14–2013 / 11–16
RH %61 / 58–6460 / 58–6359 / 57–6158 / 53–6156 / 50–6354 / 47–6253 / 46–6354 / 48–6357 / 52–6159 / 55–6161 / 57–6362 / 59–65

Each figure is the median across the 483 grid cells holding the 897 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1096:4094 (35.175, 24.725). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 0.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 4.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.9 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 483 distinct grid cells holding the 897 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1096:4094 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 35.00_25.000, lapse-corrected +204 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 457 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeGreece, Kriti, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, East Aegean Is., Lebanon-Syria, Turkey· introduced: Great Britain, Spain, Italy, South Australia, Argentina Northeast
Kew's description“rhizomatous geophyte” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker38.748, 20.676 · in the densest population, 581 records (61% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 951 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 531 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 5 km away. 628 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 54 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 951 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Iris unguicularisIris unguicularisIris unguicularisIris unguicularisIris unguicularisIris unguicularisIris unguicularisIris unguicularis

Photographs: (c) Thibaud Aronson, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) Felicia Seichter, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) froggymum, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5); (c) Karim Haddad, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Iris unguicularis, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Studies on α-glucosidase inhibition and anti-glycation potential of Iris loczyi and Iris unguicularis
Mohmmed Mosihuzzman, Suad Naheed, Sumaira Hareem, Sumaira Talib (2012) · Life Sciences
Mangiferin Facilitates Islet Regeneration and β-Cell Proliferation through Upregulation of Cell Cycle and β-Cell Regeneration Regulators
Hailian Wang, Chunyang Li, Bin Zhang, Yuande Liu (2014) · International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Studies on constituents of genus Iris. VII. The constituents of Iris unguicularis Poir.
Munehisa Arisawa, Naokata Morita (1976) · Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin
Studies on constituents of genus Iris. VIII. The constituents of Iris unguicularis Poir. 2.
Munehisa Arisawa, Haruhisa Kizu, Naokata Morita (1976) · Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin
New and Known Constituents from Iris unguicularis and Their Antioxidant Activity
Atta‐ur Rahman, Sumaira Hareem, M. Iqbal Choudhary, Bilge Şener (2010) · Heterocycles
Synthetic studies of the flavone derivatives. VIII. Synthesis of kanzakiflavones and their isomers.
Munekazu Iinuma, Toŝhiyuki Tanaka, Shin Matsuura (1984) · Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin
Genus Iris(アヤメ属)の成分に関する研究 VIII Iris unguicularis Poirの成分 2
Munehisa Arisawa, H. KIZU, Naokata Morita (1976) · Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin
Dual inhibitors of urease and carbonic anhydrase-II from Iris species
Muhammad Saleem, Sumaira Hareem, Ajmal Khan, Suad Naheed (2019) · Pure and Applied Chemistry
Mangiferin Protects DNase 2 Abundance via Nrf2 Activation to Prevent Cytosolic mtDNA Accumulation during Liver Injury
Lisi Li, Yifan Zhen, Xi Chen, Lixue Cao (2023) · Molecular Nutrition & Food Research
Phytochemical profiles of Iris unguicularis Poir. with antioxidant, antibacterial, and anti-Alzheimer activities
Souheir Bensari, Rayene Ouelbani, Mustafa Abdullah Yılmaz, Chawki Bensouıcı (2020) · Acta Scientifica Naturalis

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Iris 16 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 59 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.