Iris fernaldii |
Iris savannarum |
|
---|---|---|
Fernald's iris |
prairie iris, savanna iris |
|
Rhizomes | many-branched, producing dense clumps, compact, slender, ca. 0.6 cm diam., base covered with remains of old leaves; roots fibrous. |
greenish, freely branching, forming large, open clumps, 2–2.5 cm diam., fleshy, with fibrous bases of old leaves not covering rhizome but persisting on ringlike scars. |
Stems | simple, solid, 2–4 dm. |
1-branched, solid, 3–10 dm. |
Leaves | basal with blade gray-green, usually brilliantly colored basally, drying to unusual gray-green, veins fairly prominent, to 4 dm × 0.7–0.8 cm, often quite glaucous, margins not thickened; cauline 2–several, spreading, sheathing stem for about 1/2 length, foliaceous, blade not inflated. |
basal usually dying back shortly after anthesis, blade bright green, 6–10 dm × 0.8–2 cm, sometimes glaucescent; cauline with blade elongate, linear-attenuate, 15–20 cm, exceeding flowers. |
Inflorescence units | 2-flowered; spathes opposite, connivent, often flushed red basally, broadly lanceolate, 5–9 cm × 6–11 mm, subequal. |
1–3-flowered, branch units 1–2-flowered; spathes lanceolate, subequal or unequal, apex acute; outer 8–10 cm, herbaceous, margins scarious; inner 6–9 cm, completely scarious. |
Flowers | perianth pale creamy yellow with gold or gray veins; floral tube funnelform, 3–6.2 cm, spreading apically to form wide throat; sepals horizontally spreading, claw with deep yellow median line, oblanceolate to spatulate, 4.5–7 × 1–2 cm, base gradually attenuate into broad claw; petals narrowly oblanceolate, 4.3–6 × 0.6–1.4 cm, base gradually attenuate into narrow claw; ovary elliptical, nearly circular in cross section, 1.5–2.3 cm; style 2.2–3 cm, crests divergent, linear to narrowly oblong, 1–1.7 cm; stigmas triangular, margins entire; pedicel 0.9–2.2 cm at anthesis. |
perianth blue to blue-violet (white in forma albispiritis); floral tube funnelform, 1.2–1.5 cm; sepals blue or pale violet with flecks of white and lines of deeper blue on either side of ridge, spatulate, elliptic to ovate, 7–8 cm, apex acuminate, ridge yellow, linear, extending to about middle of limb, finely pubescent, claw light green, striated, ribbed, 1–1.2 cm; petals erect or spreading-erect, deep blue, linear to narrowly linear-spatulate, 6–7.5 cm, base abruptly attenuate into claw, claw channeled, green with darker lines, margins pale; ovary bluntly 3-angled, ridged at each angle and on faces between angles; style linear-acute, 5–6 cm; crests ovate, 1–2 cm, margins sharply and irregularly toothed; stigmas broadly 2-lobed, margins crenate; pedicel 1.6–2 cm. |
Capsules | oblong, roundly trigonal, distinctly beaked, 2.5–3.5 cm. |
ellipsoid, round in cross section, roundly 6-lobed, with 6 sharp, winglike, equally spaced ridges converging to form stout beak at apex, 6–10 cm, dehiscence loculicidal. |
Seeds | dark brown, wrinkled. |
in 1 row per locule, brown, circular or uneven, flattened, 8–12 mm diam, very corky. |
2n | = 40. |
= 44. |
Iris fernaldii |
Iris savannarum |
|
Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jul. | Flowering late Mar–early Apr. |
Habitat | Mixed evergreen forest | Wet ditches, margins of lakes, streams, and swamps |
Distribution |
CA
|
AL; FL; GA
|
Discussion | Iris fernaldii hybridizes with I. douglasiana, I. innominata, and I. macrosiphon. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Iris savannarum has often been included in I. hexagona, but differs in several ways. The capsules of I. hexagona are more obviously hexagonal, with smooth faces alternating with those that have two rounded lobes, whereas the capsules of I. savannarum are more rounded but with six obvious ridges, almost of winglike proportions. Iris hexagona has yellow-green leaves instead of the brighter green of I. savannarum. The leaves of I. savannarum die back after anthesis, while those of I. hexagona remain green. The flowering period of I. savannarum is almost one month earlier than that of I. hexagona in the area where both are known to grow. The sepals of I. savannarum are more acute at the apex than those of I. hexagona. Iris savannarum has been hybridized with Iris fulva to produce I. ×cacique (J. Berry) N. C. Henderson. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 387. | FNA vol. 26, p. 393. |
Parent taxa | Iridaceae > Iris > subg. Limniris > sect. Limniris > ser. Californicae | Iridaceae > Iris > subg. Limniris > sect. Limniris > ser. Hexagonae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | I. albispiritus, I. hexagona var. savannarum, I. kimballiae, I. rivularis | |
Name authority | R. C. Foster: Iridis Sp. Nov., 1. (1938) | Small: Addisonia 9: 57, plate 317. (1925) |
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