olena
<font color=green>Emerald Angel<br><font color=mag
- Joined
- May 12, 2001
Provincial Floral Emblem
Larger Blueflag
Iris versicolor
Rocky Mountain Iris, Western Blue Iris, Harlequin Blueflag
Description Several violet-blue flowers with attractively veined and yellow-based sepals are on a sturdy stalk among tall sword-like leaves that rise from a basal cluster.
Flowers: 2 1/2-4" (6.3-10 cm) wide; sepals 3, non-bearded; petals 3, narrower, erect; styles 3, 2-lobed, arching over sepals; stamens 3, hidden under styles.
Leaves: 8-32" (20-80 cm) long, 1/2-1" (1.3-2.5 cm) wide; pale green to grayish.
Fruit: bluntly 3-lobed; erect capsule.
Height: 2-3' (60-90 cm).
Flower May-August.
Habitat Swamps, marshes, wet shores.
Range Manitoba to Nova Scotia; south through New England to Virginia; west to western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
Discussion This is a showy native iris of northeastern wetlands. Insects attracted to the sepals must crawl under the tip of a style and brush past a stigma and stamen, thus facilitating pollination. A similar southern wetland species, occurring from Virginia to Florida and Texas, is Southern Blueflag (I. virginica). It is a smaller plant, to 2' (60 cm) tall, with bright green leaves that often lie on the ground or water. A coastal, brackish-water species, Slender Blueflag (I. prismatica) has extremely narrow, grass-like leaves that are less than 1/4" (6 mm) wide; it occurs from Maine to Georgia and Tennessee. The name "flag" is from the middle English flagge, meaning "rush" or "reed."
Larger Blueflag
Iris versicolor
Rocky Mountain Iris, Western Blue Iris, Harlequin Blueflag
Description Several violet-blue flowers with attractively veined and yellow-based sepals are on a sturdy stalk among tall sword-like leaves that rise from a basal cluster.
Flowers: 2 1/2-4" (6.3-10 cm) wide; sepals 3, non-bearded; petals 3, narrower, erect; styles 3, 2-lobed, arching over sepals; stamens 3, hidden under styles.
Leaves: 8-32" (20-80 cm) long, 1/2-1" (1.3-2.5 cm) wide; pale green to grayish.
Fruit: bluntly 3-lobed; erect capsule.
Height: 2-3' (60-90 cm).
Flower May-August.
Habitat Swamps, marshes, wet shores.
Range Manitoba to Nova Scotia; south through New England to Virginia; west to western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
Discussion This is a showy native iris of northeastern wetlands. Insects attracted to the sepals must crawl under the tip of a style and brush past a stigma and stamen, thus facilitating pollination. A similar southern wetland species, occurring from Virginia to Florida and Texas, is Southern Blueflag (I. virginica). It is a smaller plant, to 2' (60 cm) tall, with bright green leaves that often lie on the ground or water. A coastal, brackish-water species, Slender Blueflag (I. prismatica) has extremely narrow, grass-like leaves that are less than 1/4" (6 mm) wide; it occurs from Maine to Georgia and Tennessee. The name "flag" is from the middle English flagge, meaning "rush" or "reed."