THE ADAPTATION OF TURKISH IRIS L. SPECIES TO THE CULTURAL CONDITIONS

Irises are herbaceous perennial plants that belong to Iridaceae family. The family is known to have more than 300 species that grow in temperate climates of the Northern Hemisphere. There are 39 species and 45 taxons in the flora of Turkey. In this study, after collecting all the Iris species naturally distributed in Turkish Flora, it was aimed to domesticate them by determining their adaption capabilities to open field growing conditions in the city. All regions of Turkey were scanned in 2006-2009 and 45 Iris taxons (39 species) were identified in 325 populations. Eighteen of them are endemic, while fourteen of them are not endemic, along with being rare taxon. Ten representative bulbs or rhizomes each of the populations were harvested and planted in pots with the most suitable mixture of medium. Observations were made every other day to determine the morphologic and phenologic features of all the populations for two years. Capabilities of adaption were determined by confirming the average and the lowest-highest levels in taxon on the basis for two years. Based on our findings at the end of this study, 32 taxons showed adaptability to the conditions of culture which have high and medium adaptation capacity.