Iris hexagona
Iris pallida
Carolina iris, Dixie iris
sweet 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.
branching, forming extensive clumps, 1.5–2 cm diam., smooth except for narrow leaf scars that completely encircle rhizome.
1–2-branched, solid, 3–9 dm.
1–3-branched, 6–10 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.
erect to spreading, blade green (some forms with white or yellow longitudinal stripes), ensiform, 3–6 dm × 3–4 cm, very glaucous, smooth.
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.
with terminal unit 3-flowered, branch units 2–3-flowered;
distal branches subtended by scarious bracts, lower one to 15 cm, herbaceous, green;
spathes completely silvery white, 2–3.5 cm, 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.
often very fragrant;
perianth light blue-violet to mauve-purple, one form with blue pigment limited as stipples or stitches along margin and/or along veins, with ground color white on both petals and sepals;
floral tube 1–1.3 cm;
sepals slightly reflexed, obovate, 7.8–8.3 × 5–5.3 cm, with wedge-shaped claw marked with brown veins, beard yellow with white tips;
petals blue-violet, in some forms lighter than sepals, with some brown veining at base and on claw, obovate, 8 × 5 cm;
ovary trigonal, 6-grooved, 1–1.5 cm;
style violet, fading paler along margins, keeled along midrib, 2–2.4 × 1 cm, crests rounded, 1.4 cm, apex acute;
stigmas rounded, margins entire;
pedicel very short, 2–3 mm.
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.
borne on ends of stems and branches, oblong, trigonal, 6-grooved, 4–5 × 1.5–2 cm.
in 2 rows per locule, light brown, D-shaped or irregularly rounded, 4–6 mm, corky.
in 2 rows per locule, dark brown, compressed, cubical, wrinkled.
= 44.
= 24.
Iris hexagona
Iris pallida
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.)
Iris pallida is considered to be one of the parents of I. germanica, to which it contributed blue pigment (delphinin) as well as the recessive white allele responsible for white-flowered forms. It also contributed the recessive distribution-pattern allele that limits the blue pigment to veins and to stipples or larger dots along the margins of the petals and sepals, the plicata pattern so popular in the garden today.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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