It has dark green leaves, short stems, spring flowers in shades of greenish-yellow to pale violet.

[5] The thin, channelled dark green leaves emerge before the flowers, they are 5–25 mm wide (close to the base of the plant).

[4] One of the shorter Juno irises, similar to Iris leptorrhiza,[2] only growing to a height of 5–10 cm (2.0–3.9 in).

[10][11] It was first published as Juno narbutii by Olga Fedtschenko in 'Izvestiya Imperatorskago Obscestva Ljubitelej Estestvoznanija, Antropologii i Etnografii, Sostojascago pri (Imperatorskom) Moskovskom Universitete' in 1902.

[13] It is listed in 1995 in 'Vascular plants of Russia and adjacent states (the former USSR)' by Czerepanov, S. K.[14] It may have been named after 'Narbuta Beg'(1774-1798), a grandson of 'Abd al-Karim' (Khanate of Kokand) of the Fergana Valley, Central Asia, where the iris was found.

[4] Olga Fedtschenko had speculated that the plants from west Tien Shan, could be a separate species, due to their paler colour.

[6] In Russia, Vvedenskii had noted several natural hybrids including; Data related to Iris narbutii at Wikispecies