It has grey green leaves, a very short stem and 1–2 blue or violet flowers.

[2][3] It has linear, narrow, greyish green leaves, that are between 5–25 cm (2–10 in) long and between 2–3 mm wide.

[5] The falls are narrowly oblanceolate (top wider than the bottom), 3–3.5 cm (1–1 in) long and 5 – 8 mm wide.

The standards are also narrowly oblanceolate, but much smaller, only 3 cm long and 4 mm wide.

[7][8][9] The Latin specific epithet qinghainica refers to the Chinese provinces of Qinghai, in the northwest of the country of China.

It was published by and described by Yu Tang Zhao in Acta Phytotaxonomica Sinica (of Beijing) Vol.18, Issue 1 page 55 in 1980.

[12] Iris qinghainica is endemic to China, in the Chinese provinces of Gansu and Qinghai.

It is used to treat roundworm (as an anthelmintic), pinworm (or threadworm), appendicitis and food poisoning.