Iris foetidissima
species of plant
Iris foetidissima, the stinking iris, gladdon, Gladwin iris, roast-beef plant, or stinking gladwin, is a species of flowering plant in the family Iridaceae, found in open woodland, hedgebanks and on sea-cliffs.
Its natural range is Western Europe, including England (south of Durham) and also Ireland, and from France south and east to N. Africa, Italy and Greece.
It is one of two iris species native to Britain, the other being the yellow iris (Iris pseudacorus).
It has tufts of dark green leaves. Its flowers are usually of a dull, leaden-blue colour, or dull buff-yellow tinged with blue. The petals have delicate veining. It blooms between June and July, but the flowers only last a day or so.
The green seed capsules, which remain attached to the plant throughout the winter, are 5–8 cm (2–3 in) long; and the seeds are scarlet.
It is known as "stinking" because some people find the smell of its leaves unpleasant when crushed or bruised, an odour that has been described as "beefy". Its common names of 'gladdon' and 'gladwyn' or 'gladwin', are in reference to an old word for a sword (Latin gladius) due to the shape of the iris's leaves.
The public source identifies “Iris foetidissima” as species of plant. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Iris, foetidissima and species.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2484930. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Iris foetidissima” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.