Bearded Iris vs Coastal Iris

Iris germanica compared with Iris atropurpurea

Key Differences

• Bearded Iris is Not Evaluated while Coastal Iris is Critically Endangered.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Bearded Iris	Coastal Iris
Kingdom same	Animalia (动物界)	Animalia (动物界)
Phylum same	Arthropoda (节肢动物门)	Arthropoda (节肢动物门)
Class same	Insecta (昆蟲綱)	Insecta (昆蟲綱)
Order same	Mantodea (螳螂目)	Mantodea (螳螂目)
Family same	Eremiaphilidae	Eremiaphilidae
Genus same	Iris	Iris
Species	Iris germanica	Iris atropurpurea

Evolutionary Relationship

Bearded Iris and Coastal Iris share a common ancestor at the Genus level: Iris.

Conservation Status

Bearded Iris

NE — Not Evaluated

Coastal Iris

CR — Critically Endangered

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Bearded Iris	Coastal Iris
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Bearded Iris

Habitat

Inhabits montane grasslands and shrublands and Mediterranean forests and woodlands within the Palearctic biogeographic realm.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (Morocco), Asia (Cyprus, India, Japan), Europe (23 countries), North America (Canada, United States), Oceania and the Pacific (Australia), and South America (Brazil, Colombia).

Coastal Iris

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Bearded Iris

The Bearded Iris (Iris germanica) is a species in the genus Iris. Inhabits montane grasslands and shrublands and Mediterranean forests and woodlands within the Palearctic biogeographic realm.

Coastal Iris

Iris atropurpurea, the coastal iris or Sharon iris, is a bulbous geophyte in the family Iridaceae critically endangered and endemic to the coastal plain of central Israel, one of the most range-restricted irises in the world. The species is confined to a narrow strip of the Sharon plain sandy coastal habitat, a Mediterranean coastal sandstone and sandy soil ecosystem that has been almost entirely eliminated by the sprawling Tel Aviv metropolitan area and its associated agricultural conversion. Iris atropurpurea produces striking deep purple to blackish-purple flowers with intricate veining and yellow signals in late winter and early spring, blooming briefly before entering summer dormancy as a bulb in the dry Mediterranean season. Fewer than twenty natural populations of this species are thought to survive, all within a highly fragmented and disturbed coastal landscape under permanent threat from urban expansion, recreational pressure, invasive alien plants, and changes in grazing regimes that alter the open sandy habitat structure the iris requires. It is classified as Critically Endangered by the IUCN. Conservation efforts include habitat protection in a few coastal reserves, translocation programs, and cultivation in Israeli botanical gardens to secure genetic material against the extinction of remaining wild populations.