Herbertia?

[Wun_Ho]

G'day

My colleague has found an unknown iris on a conservation reserve in Victoria, Australia. He reported > 10 individuals over a small area.

It appears to be a Herbertia. When I visited the site over a week later, I was not able to relocate the plant, even with GPS data. So it seems to be a short-flowering species.

I wasn't able to key it out in Flora of Victoria as there is no entry for Herbertia, even though other exotic genera from Iridaceae are present in the Flora.

Can anyone verify that the genus is correct, and if possible, give a species epithet?

Many thanks!

(Photo credit: J. Birckhead)

[Martin Bohnet]

"Short flowered" In tigridieae is the understatement of the day, with flowers lasting a few hours each and in Herbertia there are 3 per plant at most. But yes, that is definitely a Herbertia and likely Herbertia lahue

as it is wide spread in its original range, adaptable and the one most likely to be a garden escape. That pattern expanding around the central zone lets one think of Herbertia quareimana

, though I'd guess that woulnd't get there as easily as lahue.

Sidenote: You've double-Hit the insert button, that's why the inclusion of the attachment failed. Personally, I prefer thumbed view below anyway.