Iris haynei

Iris haynei, the Gilboa iris (Hebrew: אירוס הגלובע, romanized: Irous HaGilboa; Arabic: سوسن فقوعة, romanized: Sawsan Faqqua), is a plant species in the genus Iris, subgenus Iris and section Oncocyclus. It is a rhizomatous perennial, from the shrublands and mountainsides mostly in Israel and Palestine, on the Gilboa mountain. The Iris haynei is considered to be the national flower of Palestine. It has smooth, linear or lanceolate, greyish-green leaves and a long slender stem and, between March and April, large fragrant flowers in shades of deep purple, violet, purple, brownish purple or dusky lilac veining or speckling over a pale ground. It has a dark purple, black-brown, to blackish signal patch and a beard, varying from dark purple, white, or dark-tipped yellow. It is rarely cultivated as an ornamental plant in temperate regions as it needs arid conditions during the summer.