The term " Japanese iris " encompasses three species of Irises cultivated in gardens or growing wild in Japan: hanashōbu ( Iris ensata ), kakitsubata ( Iris laevigata ) and ayame ( Iris sanguinea ). Of these three species, I. ensata is the one most commonly referred to as "Japanese iris" outside Japan.
6-448: The bluish purple color of the flowers of the Japanese garden iris is an example of the copigmentation phenomenon. The hanashōbu ( ハナショウブ, 花菖蒲 , Iris ensata var. ensata [ ja ] , syn. I. ensata var. hortensis I. kaempferi ) grows in the wet land and is the most extensively cultivated variety in Japanese gardens. According to the place where it was cultivated, it
12-448: Is a National Natural Treasure. It was already recorded in a tanka by Fujiwara Toshinari also in the Heian period : 神山や大田の沢のかきつばた ふかきたのみは色に見ゆらむ Kamiyama ya ōta no sawa no kakitsubata Fukaki tanomi wa iro ni miyu ramu Like the kakitsubata at Ōta Wetland, a God-sent heaven, my trust in you can be seen in the color of their flowers. The ayame ( アヤメ, 菖蒲, 文目 , Iris sanguinea )
18-519: Is classified into the Edo (Tokyo), Higo (Kumamoto Prefecture), Ise (Mie Prefecture), American (U.S.) and other series. It is extensively grown in gardens throughout the temperate zones . Several cultivars have been selected, of which 'Rose Queen' and 'Variegata' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society 's Award of Garden Merit . The kakitsubata ( カキツバタ, 杜若 , Iris laevigata ) grows in
24-513: Is the iris typically growing wild on the dry land in Japan. Note: Sweet flag , called shōbu ( ショウブ, 菖蒲 ) in Japanese, is a plant belonging to the family Acoraceae , genus Acorus , known for its fragrant roots, rather than its flowers. Copigmentation Copigmentation is a phenomenon where pigmentation due to anthocyanidins is reinforced by the presence of other colorless flavonoids known as cofactors or “copigments”. This occurs by
30-418: The formation of a non-covalently-linked complex . An example is the bluish purple flowers of the Japanese garden iris ( Iris ensata ). The characteristic floral jade coloration of Strongylodon macrobotrys has been shown to be an example of copigmentation, a result of the presence of malvin (the anthocyanin) and saponarin (a flavone glucoside ) in the ratio 1:9. It is a phenomenon observed in
36-736: The semi-wet land and is less popular, but is also cultivated extensively. It is a prefectural flower of Aichi Prefecture due to the famous tanka poem which is said to have been written in this area during the Heian period , as it appears in The Tales of Ise by Ariwara no Narihira (note that the beginning syllables are "ka-ki-tsu-ha (ba)-ta"): から衣 きつゝなれにし つましあれば はるばるきぬる たびをしぞ思 Karakoromo Kitsutsu narenishi Tsuma shi areba, Harubaru kinuru Tabi o shizo omou I have come so far away on this trip this time and think of my wife that I left in Kyoto Kakitsubata at Ōta Shrine, Kyoto ,
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