Iris hexagona
Iris setosa
Carolina iris, Dixie iris
beach-head 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.
many-branched, producing dense clumps, 3–6 × 1.5–2 cm, covered with remnants of old leaves.
1–2-branched, solid, 3–9 dm.
1–2-branched, 1.5–9 dm, exceeding leaves;
branches 1.25–1.5 dm proximal to terminal, but bearing flowers on nearly the same level.
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 with blade green with purple tinge basally, prominently ribbed, ensiform, 0.2–0.45 dm × 1–2 cm, ± glaucous distally;
cauline subtending each lateral branch, blade reduced, 0.5–1.5 dm.
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, lateral units usually 2-flowered;
spathes green flushed with purple, foliaceous, ovate-lanceolate, 2.5–4.5 cm × 5–7 mm, unequal, inner longer than outer, sometimes 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 dark blue-violet to red-purple with darker veins;
floral tube ca. 0.7 cm;
sepals 4–6 × 3–5 cm, glabrous, base abruptly attenuate to broad claw with undulate margins;
petals much reduced, 1–2 × 0.3–0.4 cm, widest basally, mostly hidden by bases of outer sepals, apex acuminate, with 3–8 mm bristle;
ovary conspicuously 3-angled, inflated at anthesis, 1.3 cm;
style 2.5 cm, crests overlapping, subquadrate, 0.7 cm, margins incised;
stigmas semicircular, margins entire;
pedicel 2.5–4.5 cm, ± equaling spathes.
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.
roundly trigonal, 2.5 × 1.3–1.5 cm.
in 2 rows per locule, light brown, D-shaped or irregularly rounded, 4–6 mm, corky.
in 2 rows per locule, light brown, with prominent raphe, D-shaped, 2–3 mm, very smooth.
= 44.
= 34, 36, 38.
Iris hexagona
Iris setosa
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 setosa was originally described from Siberia; whether our populations are an extension from or were formerly continuous with the Asian ones is not known. Two varieties from Japan, var. hondoensis Honda and var. nasuensis Hara, with 2n = 54 may be triploids.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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