68. Iris clarkei J.D. Hooker

An iris of the Sibericae group, in which the drooping, outer petals (which are known as the ‘falls’) are smooth and beardless. It is native to the East Himalaya, occurring in Sikkim and Bhutan, where it grows in alpine pastures and forest clearings, and where the fried leaves are used as fodder for horses and yak. The specific name commemorates Cyril Barron Clarke (1832–1906), a schools’ inspector in Bengal and authority on the Indian flora, who in retirement at Kew was one of the major contributors to the great seven-volume Flora of British India edited by Sir Joseph Hooker.

Hand coloured lithograph by W.H. Fitch, after a drawing by Matilda Smith, from Curtis’s Botanical Magazine

 

     

     

    RBGE Living Collections Accession Factsheet
    Accession Number:19371008
    Scientific Name:Iris clarkei Baker ex Hook.f.
    Family:Iridaceae
    Genus:Iris
    Epithet:clarkei
    Collector:Ludlow, Francis & Sherriff, George
    Year:1936
    Origin:Outer China incl. Tibet:Xizang (Tibet) Aut. Reg., S:Bimbi La
    Elevation:3,810m
    Plant:19371008F
    Location:/Living Collections/Inverleith/R05/ZZK040
    Plant:19371008D
    Location:/Living Collections/Unplaced
    Plant:19371008E
    Location:/Living Collections/Dawyck/V08
    Plant:19371008A
    Location:/Living Collections/Inverleith/R05/L020
    Plant:19371008G
    Location:/Living Collections/Dawyck/V02
    Plant:19371008C
    Location:/Living Collections/Unplaced
    Plant:19371008B
    Location:/Living Collections/Inverleith/H05/ZV010
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    19371008G_1.jpg
    19371008_10 (1101).jpg
     Location: 55.964113889,-3.204224801
     Location: 55.964199427,-3.204365573
     Location: 55.963950457,-3.209414046