Iris hexagona
Iris giganticaerulea
Carolina iris, Dixie iris
giant blue iris
greenish with brown leaf scars, branching from older buds quite some distance proximal to apex, forming widely scattered colonies, 2–2.5 cm diam.
green, extensively branched, forming large clumps, 2–4 cm diam., with pale leaf scars.
1–2-branched, solid, 3–9 dm.
2–3-branched, solid, 10–15(–20+) dm.
basal stiffly erect, blade yellow-green, lightly ribbed, 8–9 dm × 2–3 cm;
cauline 1–2, foliaceous, blade 1.2–2 dm, exceeding subtended flower.
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.
1–2-flowered, branch units 1-flowered;
spathes lanceolate, subequal or unequal, apex acute;
outer foliaceous, 15–20 cm, usually exceeding flower;
inner 8–10 cm, herbaceous, with scarious margins.
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.
perianth blue to violet, rarely white;
floral tube funnelform, grooved in line with grooves of ovary, 2–3 cm;
sepals spreading horizontally, obovate to oval, 8–8.5 × 4 cm, claw greenish with prominent yellow midrib which is pubescent on each side at base, apex rounded;
petals erect or spreading-erect, oblanceolate to spatulate, 7–9 × 2 cm, claw veined with green;
ovary roundly triangular in cross section, with wide grooves at angles and concave sides, 2–3 cm;
style convex laterally from central reddish ridge, 3.5–5 cm, narrower than claw of sepals, crests erect, overlapping, semiovate to triangular, 1–5 cm, margins coarsely toothed;
stigmas 2-lobed, lobes triangular or rounded-deltoid, margins entire;
pedicel 2.5–3.5 cm.
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.
hexagonal in cross section, with 3 alternate sides plane, others with 2 rounded ridges with shallow groove between them, 2.5–3.5 × 2–2.5 cm.
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.
in 2 rows per locule, light brown, D-shaped or irregularly rounded, 4–6 mm, corky.
in 2 rows per locule, brown, D-shaped, 8–10 mm wide, very corky.
= 44.
= 44.
Iris hexagona
Iris giganticaerulea
Iris hexagona is one of the rarest of all our native irises. We had seen herbarium specimens from seven localities in five counties of South Carolina. In searching for living plants at each of these sites we found that six of the seven are now under the water of Lake Moultrie. After extensive searching, one small population has been located at the other site, in a state park at Charleston, which is being watched carefully by the rangers of the park. A good-sized population has since been found in Dixie County, Florida, north of the small town of Shamrock, and another in neighboring Taylor County. These two populations are in the drainage system of Georgia, which in turn is fed by some of the streams from South Carolina. So far, though, I. hexagona has not been found in Georgia.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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