Iris giganticaerulea |
Iris chrysophylla |
|
---|---|---|
giant blue iris |
golden leaf iris, slender-tubed iris, yellow-flower iris, yellow-leaf iris |
|
Rhizomes | green, extensively branched, forming large clumps, 2–4 cm diam., with pale leaf scars. |
compact, dark brown, slender, 0.5–0.6 cm diam., covered with old leaf bases; roots few, fibrous. |
Stems | 2–3-branched, solid, 10–15(–20+) dm. |
simple, solid, slender, 0.25–2 dm. |
Leaves | basal 4–6, erect, blade bright green, ensiform, 10–13 dm × 2–3 cm, apex slightly curved; cauline with blade foliaceous, appearing as elongated spathe, 5–6.5 dm × 2–3 cm, not exceeding flowers. |
basal with blade light green, pink or red-tinged basally, finely ribbed, linear-acute, 2.5–5 dm × 0.3–0.5 cm, somewhat glaucous, margins not thickened; cauline 1–3, imbricated, blade bractlike, inflated. |
Inflorescence units | 2–3-flowered, branch units 1–2-flowered; spathes tightly enclosing ovary and pedicel, 15–20 cm, subequal; outer narrowly lanceolate, keeled, margins pale, narrow, inner margins translucent, broad, scarious. |
usually 2–flowered; spathes sometimes flushed pink or purple apically, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 5–10 cm × 3–7 mm, unequal, outer much shorter and narrower than inner, herbaceous, margins often scarious, apex acute. |
Flowers | perianth blue or blue-purple; floral tube tubular-prismatic, 9-ribbed and -grooved, 4–5 cm; sepals blue or blue-purple with white streaks surrounding signal, oval to orbicular-oval, 9.5–11 × 4–5 cm, base abruptly attenuate into claw, apex obtusely angled, signal with raised, yellow, pubescent central ridge, claw green, striate, 4–4.5 × 1–1.2 cm; petals erect or spreading-erect, spatulate, 7–8.5 × 2–3 cm, base cuneate, apex emarginate; ovary bluntly 6-angled, 4–4.5 cm; style blue-violet, keeled, 3.5–4 cm, raised above sepals, crests recurved, 1.5–2 cm, margins sharply and irregularly serrate; stigmas 2-lobed with 2 triangular teeth; pedicel columnar, 3.5–5 cm. |
perianth cream or very pale yellow, with deeper yellow or lavender veins; floral tube linear, slender, 4.5–12 cm; sepals with bluish tinge and veins, oblanceolate, 4.6–7 × 1–2 cm, base gradually attenuate; petals lanceolate, 3–5.5 × 0.6–1.2 cm, base gradually attenuate, apex emarginate; ovary 1–1.8 cm, base abruptly attenuate into pedicel (when present), apex gradually acuminate into floral tube; style 2–3 cm, crests 1.5–2 cm, sometimes exceeding arms, apex narrowly pointed; stigmas tongue-shaped, margins entire; pedicel absent or 0.5–1 cm at anthesis. |
Capsules | drooping, bright green, ellipsoid, hexagonal in cross section, with 6 broad, rounded lobes, 8–10 × 3 cm, indehiscent; after anthesis, flower stem elongates, arching downward to push capsule into water, where walls are broken down and as funiculus is broken, seed rises to surface. |
sometimes on elongated pedicel, oblong, round in cross section, sharply beaked, 2–3 cm. |
Seeds | in 2 rows per locule, brown, D-shaped, 8–10 mm wide, very corky. |
buff, slightly compressed. |
2n | = 44. |
= 40. |
Iris giganticaerulea |
Iris chrysophylla |
|
Phenology | Flowering Mar–Apr. | Flowering Apr–Jun. |
Habitat | Shallow water or very wet roadside ditches | Open, coniferous forests |
Distribution |
AL; LA; MS
|
CA; OR
|
Discussion | Iris chrysophylla hybridizes with I. bracteata, I. douglasiana, I. innominata, I. macrosiphon, I. purdyi, I. tenax, and I. tenuissima. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 26. | FNA vol. 26, p. 386. |
Parent taxa | Iridaceae > Iris > subg. Limniris > sect. Limniris > ser. Hexagonae | Iridaceae > Iris > subg. Limniris > sect. Limniris > ser. Californicae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | I. elephantina, I. hexagona var. giganticaerulea, I. miraculosa | |
Name authority | Small: Addisonia 14: 5, plate 451. (1929) | Howell: Fl. N. W. Amer., 633. (1902) |
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