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Iris atropurpurea
The Coastal Iris' name in Hebrew is Irus Ha'argaman, which means Purple Iris. This rare perennial plant blooms between February and March, giving dark-purple flowers with a yellow beard.
The coastal iris grows on dry, poor-quality soil. This specimen was spotted on the sand dunes hills (Kurkar) west of Ness Ziona, Israel. It's endemic to Israel and Syria, growing along the Mediterranean coast. Coastal development greatly damaged this beautiful plant's habitats and today it's a protected plant in Israel.
Like many other irises, most parts of the plant are poisonous.
4 Comments
Beautiful spotting and gorgeous rare plant; thanks for sharing
Thank you very much for the nomination, AshleyT!
We just added some more photos to the spotting...
Your spotting has been nominated for the Spotting of the Week. The winner will be chosen by the Project Noah Rangers based on a combination of factors including: uniqueness of the shot, status of the organism (for example, rare or endangered), quality of the information provided in the habitat and description sections. There is a subjective element, of course; the spotting with the highest number of Ranger votes is chosen. Congratulations on being nominated!
A beautiful photo....a beautiful flower....