The complete chloroplast genome of Iris speculatrix Hance, a rare and endangered plant native to Hong Kong.

Iris speculatrix is a rare and endangered plant first discovered in and native to Hong Kong. The whole chloroplast genome of I. speculatrix is 152,368 bp in length. It contained a large single copy region (82,003 bp), a small single copy region (17,941 bp), and two inverted repeats (26,212 bp). Phylogenetic analysis of 17 species of Iridaceae was conducted. I. speculatrix was found to be sister to a group of 12 Iris species, including I. setosa, I. lacteal , and I. uniflora. The sequenced chloroplast whole genome would be useful to understand the phylogeny and to conservation of I. speculatrix.