It has long narrow leaves, short stem, and flowers with a white background which is covered with very small dots or veins of dark maroon, purple, purplish-maroon, or almost black.

[6] It has inflated, green spathes (leaves of the flower bud), that are 10 cm (4 in) long, and the perianth tube is about 3 centimetres (1.2 in) in length.

[8][9] The flowers are 18 cm (7 in) in diameter[3] and have a white background which is covered with very small dots[3] or veins[6][10] of dark maroon,[3][6] purple,[10] purplish-maroon,[3][5] or almost black.

[3] Also, in the middle of the falls, is a row of short hairs called the "beard", which are brownish[6] (rusty brown[3]), purplish,[6] or mottled.

[12] It has a chromosome count of 2n=20,[6][13][14] The species was first described by John Edward Dinsmore and published in 1972 by Shaukat Ali Chaudhary in Botaniska Notiser (Bot.

[16] A 2016 study was published that focused on the karyological and cytogenetic characters of the seven Oncocyclus irises of Lebanon (including Iris cedreti).

The study failed to show any genetic differences between the irises, indicating that if the species are distinct, then they must have differentiated extremely recently, or may in fact be synonymous.

This is not entirely surprising, iris species were often described based on small morphological differences in flower colour between local populations, and very many taxa have been synonymised in the past few decades.

[9] It can be found with Fritillaria hermonis, Romulea nivalis, Corydalis, and tulip species growing on the higher slopes of the mountains.

[1] Among the factors which threaten its survival are housing and road construction (or urbanization[7]) which are the most severe, as they destroy natural habitats;[1] this separates populations over wide areas and inhibits the movement of pollinators.

[1] Other habitat threats are agriculture and grazing[7][24] by sheep and goats, flower picking[1] (which stops seed development[24]), and, in one site, the presence of an old sand quarry.

kasruwana (in 2001 and 2003) were collected by the Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute and stored at the Millennium Seed Bank in Wakehurst Place, part of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

[23] A study was carried out on Pancratium maritimum and I. cedreti in 2004 to find out the best forms of growing new embryos of the rare plants.

Collar thickness, root system branching, and the number of leaves were also important factors for successful transplanting of seedlings.