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Iris prismatica - (image 1 of 2)

Taxonomy

Family: Iridaceae

Habitat

Marshes, swamps, moist meadows.

Associates

Distribution

Along the coast from New England and parts of Canada south to GA.

Morphology

Herbaceous perennial to 10 dm high from a creeping rhizome. Leaves basal, to 70 cm long and 1 cm wide, tapering to a point, parallel-veined. Flowering stems slender and much exceeding the spathes. Flowers blue to blue-violet; petals erect. Fruit a 3-chambered, erect and sharply angled capsule.

Notes

Flowers June to July

Wetland indicator: Obligate

I photographed this plant growing on the banks of a river in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Normally I would not have bothered to photograph a blue iris but this one struck me as unusual at the time. Only after looking again at the photographs did I notice how narrow the leaf was next to the flower. Unfortunately I did not get a wider shot with more of the leaves in frame, since that is the more distinctive characteristic of this iris species in addition to the erect petals.

Reference

Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY.

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