Iris giganticaerulea |
Iris longipetala |
|
---|---|---|
giant blue iris |
coast iris, long-petal iris |
|
Rhizomes | green, extensively branched, forming large clumps, 2–4 cm diam., with pale leaf scars. |
with short, creeping branches, stout, 2–2.5 cm diam., covered with bases of old leaves; roots numerous, fleshy. |
Stems | 2–3-branched, solid, 10–15(–20+) dm. |
simple or 1–2-branched, solid, 3–6 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 persistent, blade dark green, turning gray or yellow-brown when drying, veins not prominent, linear, 4–7 dm × 0.6–1 cm, usually longer than stem, glaucous or subglaucous, apex acute; cauline 2–3, reduced. |
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. |
3–6-flowered; spathes distant, inner sometimes 10 cm distal to outer, green, narrowly linear-lanceolate, 8–15 cm × 20–40 mm, herbaceous, margins and apex scarious. |
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 pale blue-violet or nearly white, with lilac-purple veins; floral tube funnelform, 0.5–1.3 cm; sepals spreading, then drooping at apex, white, flecked and veined with violet, obovate, 8–10 × 3–5 cm, base attenuate into narrow claw with prominent yellow ridge, signal a yellowish basal patch; petals semierect, oblong, 8–9 × 1.5–2 cm, base gradually attenuate, apex emarginate, bluntly rounded; ovary trigonal with central ridge in each face, 2–5 cm; style narrow basally, widening distally, 3.5–4 × 0.6–1 cm, crests overlapping basally, subquadrate, 1–1.5 cm, margins incised; stigmas obscurely to prominently 2-lobed, margins crenate; pedicels stout, 3–9 cm, unequal at anthesis, becoming ± equal at maturity. |
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. |
6-ribbed, oblong-ovoid, tapering to either end, almost round in cross section, 8–9 cm. |
Seeds | in 2 rows per locule, brown, D-shaped, 8–10 mm wide, very corky. |
dark brown, globular, wrinkled. |
2n | = 44. |
= 86, 88. |
Iris giganticaerulea |
Iris longipetala |
|
Phenology | Flowering Mar–Apr. | Flowering Mar–Apr. |
Habitat | Shallow water or very wet roadside ditches | Wet, heavy soil along coast |
Distribution |
AL; LA; MS
|
CA
|
Discussion | Iris longipetala hybridizes with I. missouriensis and is found from Mendocino County south to Monterey. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 26. | FNA vol. 26, p. 389. |
Parent taxa | Iridaceae > Iris > subg. Limniris > sect. Limniris > ser. Hexagonae | Iridaceae > Iris > subg. Limniris > sect. Limniris > ser. Longipetalae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | I. elephantina, I. hexagona var. giganticaerulea, I. miraculosa | |
Name authority | Small: Addisonia 14: 5, plate 451. (1929) | Herbert: in W. J. Hooker and G. A. W. Arnott, Bot. Beechey Voy., 395. (1840) |
Web links |