The Subgenus Hermodactyloides of Iris includes all reticulate-bulbed bulbous irises. It was formerly named as a genus, Iridodictyum by Rodionenko in 1961. but it was not widely accepted and most botanists preferred 'Hermodactyloides'. Édouard Spach named the genus in 1846. The word 'Hermodactyloides' comes from 'Hermes' , a Greek God, and 'daktylos' - finger. The name for the subgenus is very similar to Hermodactylus (the former name for Iris tuberosa), which was originally a separate genus to irises, but in 2001 was re-classified to be within the Hermodactyloides sub-genus.