African iris
Dietes iridioides (L.) Sweet ex Klatt
- light
- Sun–part
- water
- Medium
- tall
- 61 cm
- wide
- 46 cm
Iridaceae
Also called Small Fortnight Lily, Small Wild Iris, Painted Lady
Formerly Moraea iridioides, Naron iridioides
When it flowers
Flowers all year in the tropics.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- Perennial or rhizomatous geophyteKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- SubtropicalKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- Ethiopia to S. AfricaKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun to part shade (3 h or more)Read from UF/IFAS, one source
- Height
- 61 cmRead from UF/IFAS and Wikipedia, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: UF/IFAS 2–6 ft; Wikipedia 60–60 cm
- Spread
- 30 cm to 61 cmRead from UF/IFAS and Wikipedia, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: UF/IFAS 1–2 ft; Wikipedia 30–60 cm
- Water
- Average: moist, well drainedRead from UF/IFAS, one source
- Flowers
- White, yellowRead from UF/IFAS and Wikipedia, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: UF/IFAS blue, white, yellow; Wikipedia violet, white, yellow
- Coldest it survives
- -12.2 °C (USDA zone 8a)Read from UF/IFAS, one source
Not known yet: heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (6)
- Spanish
- Iris africana
- Portuguese
- Moreia-Branca
- Chinese (China)
- 离被鸢尾, 非洲鸢尾
- Afrikaans
- Klein wittulp, Wilde-iris
- root
- Esiqunga sikatokoloshe, isiQiki-sikatokoloshe, in Daw'ihlathi
- Chinese
- 非洲鳶尾, 离被鸢尾, 肖鳶尾
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- UF/IFAS, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikipedia, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-24, Public domain
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- 3D model: Dietes iridioides (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.