[5] The flower is blue-purple (or deep purple),[5] with a yellow[6] or orange beard.

Tait (from Porto, Portugal) sent the bulbs to Sir Michael Foster who grew them in the UK.

It was first described in 1885 by Portuguese botanist Julio Augusto Henriques in Boletim da Sociedade Broteriana Vols.

[9] It was originally found in the Serra do Gerês (a mountain range in Portugal), Northwest Spain,[6][9] within (Galicia).

[1][10] It likes to grows in rocky shallow soils,[1] at an altitude of 2,000–3,000 feet (610–910 m) above sea level.

[1] Iris boissieri was listed on Annex IV of the Habitats Directive (of the European Union).