Iris brevicaulis
| Iris brevicaulis | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Iridaceae |
| Subfamily: | Iridoideae |
| Tribe: | Irideae |
| Genus: | Iris |
| Subgenus: | Limniris |
| Series: | Series Hexagonae |
| Species: | Iris brevicaulis |
| Binomial name | |
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Iris brevicaulis Raf. |
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| Synonyms | |
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Iris brevicaulis is a species in the genus Iris, it is also in the subgenus of Limniris and in the Series Hexagonae. It is a rhizomatous perennial, from North America. It has bright green, glossy long leaves, a long zig-zagged stem and 3-6 flowers per stem, which are come in blue shades from violet-blue, to lavender, to purple-blue, to bright blue to blue, and pale blue.
Iris brevicaulis is the smallest in all the Hexagonae series of Louisiana irises. Its leaves and stalks are much shorter than the other species. It is similar in form to Iris virginica, The flowers are normally never seen above the foliage, due to the short zig-zagging flower stems and occasionally, due to the habit of the stems to lie along the floor, or it is often decumbent (meaning the branches growing horizontally but turned up at the ends).
It has a shallowly rooted, branching rhizome (about 10-25mm in diameter) that can eventually form large colonies of plants (2 x 3 ft wide).
It has long, glossy leaves,which are ensiform (sword-like), and grow from the base (of the plant). They are bright green, and grow to between 40 – 70 cm long (16 – 28 inches) and 15 - 40mm (6 – 16inches) broad.
It has a zig-zagged stem (known in botany as fractiflex,), (hence the common name of Zig-zag iris) going at approx. 45 degrees angles (to each other), which grows to between 12-20 inches (30–50 cm) tall. It has about 3-6 flowers per stem, 1-2 flowers at each axil, and at the terminus of the stem.
It begins blooming in early to mid summer, from April to mid-July, or June (in the UK). Occasionally it does not produce flowers every year.
The flowers are produced in a range of blue shades, from violet-blue, to lavender, to purple-blue, to bright blue, to blue, and pale blue shades. There is occasionally a white flowered form. The large flowers are 3.5 to 5 inches (9–12 cm) across, with horizontal falls (sepals) that arch downward and upright standards (petals). The petals are dark-veined and smaller than the sepals, which have a yellow (or whitish-yellow) signal patch or stripe. It has a yellow pubescence (rudimentary beard) on the sepals, (sometimes called falls).
It has green Stigma (botany)#Styles and pale lavender style crests (which are ovate in form), and short anthers.
It has a 6-angled seed capsule (similar to Iris hexagona), which is 3–5 cm long. Inside the irregular, circular seeds have a cork-like coating which allows them to float and thus aid in dispersal in its wet habitat.
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Wikipedia