Today’s plant Golden Iris can very hardly be acquired anywhere in the world except at the Palm Centre. It grows naturally along the edges of Köyceğiz Lake, and is endemic to the area.  Some sources claim that it can also be found in the Hatay region, but there has been no objective scientific verification of this claim.

This valuable plant is sought by collectors all over the world.  Iris xantospuria was first raised at the Palm Centre in 2008.  We are going to sending specimens to botanic gardens who request them.  We have also begun to sell Golden Iris at June 2009 at the Centre.

Iris xanthospuria (in Turkish ‘Altın Süsen’) is a member of the Iris family, grows from rhizomes and is a very long-lived plant.  Except when the weather is extremely cold, it is green at all times of the year with leaves between 30 and 80cm in length.  In the wild it grows in swampy areas, but with sufficient watering it will thrive anywhere.  It prefers wet ground and lots of sun.

It is different from the Iris psudacorus-Yellow Iris (in Turkish ‘Sarı Süsen’) widely found in this country and often used in landscaping schemes in Europe, in that it does not have brown markings in the centre of its petals.  Golden Iris has six spotless dark yellow petals, three which grow upright and three which curl outwards.  Each flower has three stamens (male organs).

Golden Iris can withstand cold, but as yet there has been no scientific study of to exactly what degree of frost it is hardy.  It is propagated from seed or from splitting rhizomes from established plants.  At the Centre we are currently undertaking studies of propagation and hardiness.