Plant Journeys blog post #4 – Iris: elegance by the pond

The Plant Journeys exhibition at Broughton House includes a wonderful selection of plant-inspired Japanese objects collected by Edward Atkinson Hornel when he was in Japan in 1894–95 and again in the 1920s. In this series, researcher Dr Minna Törmä explores the same plants by season, highlighting the history of their introduction into Europe, their meaning and significance in Eastern cultures and what makes each one so special.

Various species of iris can be found from Europe all the way to Asia, with depictions of them seen in temples at the Karnak Temple Complex in Egypt and in Persian miniatures. The irises grown in East Asia differ in appearance from their western counterparts, lacking the characteristic ’beards’. These irises were especially popular in Japan, where they were grown near the edges of ponds due to their rhizomes (a modified underground stem that produces roots and shoots from its nodes) spreading in water.

Hornel’s collection includes three Yokohama Nursery catalogues featuring Iris kaempferi, now known as I. ensata or the Japanese water iris. While we are accustomed to seeing purple or yellow irises, the catalogues display a variety of unique colour combinations, as seen in the examples below from Hornel’s collection.