BACKGROUND Iris L. s.l. is one of the most diverse and well-known genera in the Asparagales, with approximately 250-300 circumscribed species and significant economic impact. The taxonomy of the genus has suffered dramatic changes in the last century, particularly in the last decades after the application of molecular techniques. As a result several contrasting systematic arrangements are curre...

Despite being an important target of conservation concern and horticultural interest, Lebanese irises yet have a confusing taxonomic history and species' delimitation is often considered problematic, more especially among royal irises (Iris section Oncocyclus). Indeed, these irises of exceptionally large and spectacular flowers have radiated across Caucasus and eastern Mediterranean giving rise...

In this paper, a new iris localization method for mobile devices is presented. Our system uses both intensity and saturation threshold on the captured eye images to determine iris boundary and sclera area, respectively. Estimated iris boundary pixels which have been placed outside the sclera will be removed. The remaining pixels are mainly the boundary of iris inside the sclera. Then, circular ...

With an increasing emphasis on security, automated personal identification based on biometrics has been receiving extensive attention. Iris recognition, as an emerging biometric recognition approach, is becoming a very active topic in both research and practical applications. In general, a typical iris recognition system includes iris imaging, iris liveness detection, and recognition. This rese...

The endemic Oncocyclus irises of Lebanon are rare and threatened. Their historical locations (based on information from herbaria and the available literature) were compared to an update of their current distribution. Only 50% of the previously known populations were confirmed extant, indicating a considerable decline in the range of these taxa. The populations that were relocated were either sm...