Japanese iris

• Japanese water iris,^[1] Japanese flag^[1]

• (UK) IPA^(key): / dʒæp.ənˌiːz ˈaɪ.rɪs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌdʒæp.ən.iːz ˈaɪ.rɪs/
• Hyphenation: Jap‧a‧nese i‧ris
• Rhymes: -aɪɹɪs

From Japanese +‎ iris, due to them being discovered first by Western explorers in Japan.

Japanese iris (plural Japanese irises)

1. (botany) A group of iris flower species native to or cultivated in East Asia, particularly in Japan, Korea, China, Russia, and Mongolia.^[2] Scientifically, the three primary species are Iris ensata, Iris laevigata, and Iris sanguinea.
   • 1891, Siegfried Bing, Artistic Japan - Illustrations and Essays, volume 6, page 417:

     Though we have in Europe certain varieties which grow on comparatively dry soil, we never find the Japanese iris represented otherwise than on damp ground.

   • 1937, Floyd Franklin Smith, Leonard Gordon Utter, The Iris Thrips and Its Control by Hot Water with Notes on Other Treatments, page 2:

     Observations have been made over a period of 3 years on infested Japanese iris plants that were very much dwarfed and produced few flowers, but which after treatment to remove the thrips and transplanting to a new location, became vigorous.

   • 1956, Masatsugu Okada, Akira Okamura, Effects of daylength on flowering of Japanese iris (Iris Kaempferi), →DOI, Abstract:

     Effects of artificial illumination on Japanese iris (Iris Kaempferi) were examined.

   • 2024, Makiko Mimura, Marina Takeuchi, Takayuki Kobayashi, Shun K. Hirota, Yoshihisa Suyama, Hirofumi Yamaguchi, Toshihito Tabuchi, Genetic diversity in the traditional cultivars and wild ancestor of near-threatened Japanese iris (Iris ensata Thunb.), →DOI, Abstract:

     Iris ensata var. spontanea, a wild progenitor of the Japanese iris cultivars (I. ensata var. ensata), is extensively cultivated in Japanese gardens, is distributed across mesic meadows and wetlands in Japan and East Asia.

From Calque of translingual Iris japonica, a calque of the scientific Latin species name as gardeners have colloquialised its term.

Japanese iris (plural Japanese irises)

1. (botany) A fringed iris, of species (Iris japonica), native to China and Japan,^[3] not considered a Japanese iris species.

   Synonym: butterfly flower

   • 2025, Japanese Iris, NC State University, sourced from https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/iris-japonica/common-name/japanese-iris/, N.C. A&T State University:

     Japanese Iris - Iris japonica - Other Common Name(s): Butterfly Flower, Fringed Iris, Shaga

• Iris
• orchid
• lily

• “Japanese iris”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• “Japanese iris”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “Japanese iris”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “Japanese iris”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.