[5] It was first described in 1885 in Gardeners' Chronicle, and an illustration (No.6942) was published in Curtis's Botanical Magazine two years later.

[7] Who discovered the iris while working in Palestine in the foothills around Nazareth, and sent the specimen to Foster for classification.

[6] Due to its early flowering (during winter), the leaves can be damaged (by snow and ice) so much that the plant does not form healthy bulbs for the next year.

[12] It is found in Golan, Galilee, Mount Carmel, Samarian desert and Judean Mountains, various regions of Levantine.

On 21 December 1912, it was described in The Garden magazine of the Royal Horticultural Society, now as a white form of I. vartanii.