Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Monocots: Asparagales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Iris virginica
FAMILY
Iridaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
This is the most common tall iris in NC and is usually the species one thinks of when "iris" is mentioned. Plants of the Mountains and western Piedmont are now assigned to I. shrevei. Read more Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Iris virginica var. virginica
FAMILY
Iridaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Iris virginica var. virginica
INCLUDED WITHIN Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 26 (2002)
Iris virginica
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Iris virginica var. virginica
INCLUDED WITHIN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 046-05-002:
Iris virginica FAMILY Iridaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Iris virginica
COMMON NAME:
Southern Blue Flag
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
Will Stuart wil_ivirginica_110425_48
April Chesterfield County SC
Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge
A tall Iris, often nearly a meter tall with leaves exceeding the height of the blossoms. — Will Stuart
)
Will Stuart wil_ivirginica_110425_56
April Chesterfield County SC
Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge
Sepals (falls) often broad with a school-bus yellow signal; petals (standards) are often erect. — Will Stuart
)
JK Marlow jkm090522_001
May Bamberg County SC
Lisa Matthews Memorial Bay
)
Jerry Bright jeb_greenswamp062808_24
June Brunswick County NC
Green Swamp
)
JK Marlow jkm081009_319
October Bamberg County SC
Lisa Matthews Memorial Bay
Iris leaves have two morphologically and anatomically identical surfaces, per Plant Systematics, A Phylogenetic Approach (Judd et al., 2008+).
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Iris virginica
FAMILY
Iridaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Iris virginica var. virginica
FAMILY
Iridaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Iris virginica var. virginica
INCLUDED WITHIN
Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 26
Iris virginica
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Iris virginica var. virginica
INCLUDED WITHIN
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 046-05-002:
Iris virginica
FAMILY
Iridaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Iris virginica
765
Forb
Perennial
Habitat: Tidal and nontidal marshes and swamps, stream margins, flatwoods, wet meadows, bogs, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common (rare in Piedmont)
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Simple
FLOWER:
Spring
Lavender, blue-violet
Radially symmetrical
3 sepals
3 petals
3 stamens
Inferior ovary
Bisexual
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Capsule
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- All About South Carolina Wildflowers (Midgley, 1999) p185
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers (Nelson, 2006) p060
- Gardening with Native Plants of the South (Wasowski & Wasowski, 1994, 2020) p151
- Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee (Hunter, 2002) p142
- Great Smoky Mountains Wildflowers (Campbell, Hutson, Sharp, & Hutson, 1962) p026
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p398
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p442
- Wildflowers of the Carolina Lowcountry (Porcher, 1995) p123
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) p172
- Wild Flowers of NC, 2nd edition (Justice, Bell, & Lindsey, 2005) p043
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p385
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p388
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p444
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p019
- Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region (Sorrie, 2011) p289
If a search such as "Carex leptalea var. leptalea" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "Carex leptalea".
Or, to minimize chances of a misspelling, try just "Carex le".
Less is more: If "pencil flower" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "pencil".