Southern Blue Flag Iris

Description:

Iris virginica has a light blue to deep violet, rarely white, flower. The sepals are spreading with darker blue to purple veins with a light yellow pubescent signal. Southern blue flag iris flowers in late spring. Flowers are a one- to two-flowered inflorescence on a barely- or non-branching stem. The plants are up to two feet tall. The weakly arching green leaves are two to three feet long and are burgundy colored at the base. The leaves arise from shallowly rooted, large, branching rhizomes that can form large clumps.

Habitat:

The southern blue flag iris occurs from Virginia, south to Florida, and west to eastern Texas. It is commonly found growing in wet ditches, swamps, wet meadows, marshes, stream edges and lake and pond shores. This one was photographed at Brick Pond Park in North Augusta (Aiken County), SC.