Iris verna |
Iris verna var. smalliana |
|||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
dwarf violet iris |
dwarf violet iris, upland violet iris |
|||||
Rhizomes | heterogeneous, whitish, cordlike portions 0.1–1.5 dm × 2–4 mm, enlarging to 6–8 mm diam., densely covered with brown, scalelike leaves, roots absent, or torulose with roots borne along entire rhizome. |
1.3 cm between offshoots, forming very dense clumps. |
||||
Stems | simple, 5–15 cm. |
|||||
Leaves | basal with blade light green, ensiform, 0.3–1.5 dm × 0.3–1.3 cm, enlarging to 3.5 dm, glaucous; cauline 5–9, sheathing, imbricate, blade light green, obovate, 1.3–5 cm, increasing in length, proximal shortest, membranous, apex acute. |
blades 0.5–1.3 cm wide. |
||||
Inflorescence units | 1–2-flowered; spathes divergent, exposing floral tube, green, lanceolate, 2–2.5 cm, apex acuminate. |
|||||
Flowers | floral tube pale violet, filiform, 2.5–6.5 cm, expanding somewhat distally to 2.5–4 cm diam.; sepals widely spreading, blue to violet with yellow or orange longitudinal papillose band at base of blade, obovate, 2–6 × 0.8–2 cm, base gradually attenuate into claw, not crested; petals erect, arching inward at tip, spatulate, 2–7 × 1–2 cm, base abruptly attenuate into claw; ovary linear, to 1.3 cm; styles pale violet, 2.5–4 cm, crests linear-acute, narrow, 0.7 cm; stigmas rounded, margins entire; pedicel 1–3 cm, increasing to 25 cm as capsule matures. |
|||||
Capsules | 3-angled with single ridge at each angle, almost hidden in bases of spathes, 1–3.2 × 0.8–1.5 cm, tapering into beak consisting of dried remnant of floral tube. |
2–3.2 cm. |
||||
Seeds | dark brown, ribbed, 2.8–3.2 mm, lustrous, with small, fleshy aril basally. |
|||||
2n | = 42. |
|||||
Iris verna |
Iris verna var. smalliana |
|||||
Phenology | Flowering mid Apr–mid May. | |||||
Habitat | Acid soil, semishaded or open woodlands | |||||
Distribution |
se United States
|
AL; AR; FL; GA; KY; MD; MS; NC; OH; PA; SC; TN; VA; WV |
||||
Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
J. K. Small (1929b) illustrated this taxon as the “mountain form” of Iris verna, without giving it an infraspecific name. In 1933 he did not mention it at all and placed the species in Neubeckia. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
||||
Key |
|
|||||
Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 379. | FNA vol. 26, p. 379. | ||||
Parent taxa | Iridaceae > Iris > subg. Limniris > sect. Limniris > ser. Vernae | Iridaceae > Iris > subg. Limniris > sect. Limniris > ser. Vernae > Iris verna | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Neubeckia verna | |||||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 39. (1753) | Fernald: Rhodora 49: 214. (1947) | ||||
Web links |