It has short, linear or sickle shaped grey-green leaves, slender stem, a single flower in spring, which has a dingy-white, whitish, or pale background, which is covered in many spots or dark veining, in black-purple, brown-purple, or brown violet, or brown shades.

[3] The stem has 1 green, lanceolate, membranous,[5] spathes (leaf of the flower bud),[2] which is 7.5 cm (3 in) long.

[2][5] After the iris has flowered, it produces a trigonal (narrow at both ends) and 6 cm (2 in) long seed capsule.

[12] The Latin specific epithet heylandiana refers to the German botanical artist Jean-Christophe Heyland (1791-1866), he lived mainly in Switzerland, working for Delessert, Webb, Boissier and other botanists.

heylandiana by John Gilbert Baker in 1877 in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society (J. Linn.

[5][15] In 1893, Foster described the species in The Garden (journal) of 18 February, but in 1977 S. A Chaudhary worked out that one of these was instead Iris gatesii.

It was found that Boissier & Reuter had named two specimens Iris heylandiana, but one of these was also determined to be I. gatesii by Chaudhary.

[18] In general, 'Oncocyclus Section' Irises need good drainage,[23] minimal summer rainfall and dry winters.

[3] In temperate areas (such as the Europe and America), they are only suitable for growing by specialist iris growers, within a bulb frame or greenhouse.

[23][24] They can be grown under glass (in frames), to protect the irises from excess moisture (especially during winter times) and also to ensure the (shallow planted) rhizomes get the best temperatures during the growing season.

[27] Like many other irises, most parts of the plant are poisonous (rhizome and leaves), if mistakenly ingested can cause stomach pains and vomiting.