Andalucia Life Fauna and Flora, Flowers of Andalucia Southern Spain

January 2005, Spanish Iris, Iris xiphium

This plant looks very similar to the iris grown in the UK as a garden plant and so it should since this is where it originated. It is a remarkable flower, its small bulbs will send up these beautiful blooms to around 50cm from even the stoniest crevice in a rock.

The sword shaped grey green leaves act as a foil for the showy bluish purple flower with, as you can see, distinctive orange markings.

The flowers are anything up to 6cm across and appear from April to May. In this area they seem to prefer higher scrubby ground and rocky places.

This one was photographed at Grazalema and they can be found throughout Andalucia.