General Information

COMMON NAMES: Walking Iris GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE s.Mexico - Guatemala COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Not naturalised; Land, lowlands, gardens SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Ornamental flowers KEY FEATURES: Lily with several, flat, tapering leaves to 100x3cm. FLOWER STALK to 100cm; mid-section leaf-like bracts, to 10cm, 1-edge crimped; flowers on outer section. FLOWER to 5cmØ, yellow with 3 spreading petals with basal brown spots, and 3 smaller ascending petals; spent flowers dangle. SIMILAR SPECIES: Trimezia martinicensis (another Walking Iris, not presently recorded in the Cook Islands) has leaves to 15mm wide (vs. 30mm); bracts to 3cm (vs. to 10cm); bract margins smooth (vs. 1-margin undulate and crimped); spent flowers not dangling (vs. persistently dangling).

Cook Islands Distribution

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Southern Group: Present    Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
+						-	-	-

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
-	-	-	-	-	-

Trimezia steyermarkii R.C.Foster
SYNONYMS: Trimezia martinicensis [misapplied of authors]

TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); LILIOPSIDA (=Monocotyledones); LILIIDAE; Liliales; IRIDACEAE

IDENTIFICATION: Lily with strap-like leaves to 100cm. LEAVES 8-10, flat, strap-like, to 100x3cm, tapering. FLOWER STALK to 100cm; leaf-like bracts to 10cm, one edge wavy and crimped; 4-6 terminal flowers. FLOWERS 5cmØ; PETALS (=tepals) inner 3 short, ascending with tips recurved, yellow with brown spots at base and along middle; outer 3 spreading to 2cm, with brown spot; STYLE ascending to 1cm, yellow. CAPSULE ovoid, to 2cm with many small seeds.

Vouchers:
Rarotonga: fieldspecimen+photo, Oct/2003, Nikao Maja Poeschko garden, tentative ID as Trimezia martinicensis GMcC 11/2003, reID as Trimezia steyermarkii GMcC 5/2004 based on specimens BPBM.

References:
None recorded.

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB04a, zM04a, zD04

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